Darkness is a Jackal's Eye
by SK Dark Dragon
Summary: -Completed- As Halloween approaches, a powerful enemy of Yugi's plots to carry out his revenge on Yugi and the gang. -Read and Review-
1. Chapter 1: Halloween

Darkness is a Jackal's Eye  
  
Chapter 1: Halloween  
  
Notes: New story, new notes, etc, etc. ^_^  
  
"First, we want to thank everyone who reviewed our last story." ^_~"  
  
And second, the disclaimers. I do NOT own Yugioh, or any of its characters from the anime and manga. I DO own my made-up characters like Amber, Taerro, Yami Taerro, and Madam Christina. ^_^  
  
This story is also the next story in our little adventure series here. The title hints at a certain villain's revenge, does it not? And the Chapter title indicates that we are nearing a certain holiday, does it not? ^_~  
  
"Ok, ok, with all said and done, let the story begin!"  
  
*********  
  
Chapter 1: Halloween  
  
The darkness of the night hung over the sandy stretch of dessert in Egypt, the moon full overhead. In the middle of the dessert stood the Temple of the Gods, the home of the Egyptian gods and goddesses.  
  
Inside, the gods were at rest for the night, most asleep on the floors of the various rooms of the temple. Bastet, the cat goddess, and also the one most connected to the Millennium Items of the gods, was curled up in the corner, in her usual form of a black cat.  
  
She purred softly as she slept, not noticing a dark figure walking by her, moving silently across the stone floors. The shadowy figure walked just outside the temple and looked up at the dark sky.  
  
"Darkness," he thought to himself, narrowing his white eyes as he looked up at the stars. "Soon...soon I will have my revenge, and my dark rule over Egypt will begin..."  
  
He lifted up his ax-like weapon, where its silver blade glinted in the moonlight.  
  
"Soon..."  
  
*********  
  
It was a sunny October afternoon, and the orange sun hung high in the sky, illuminating the city of Domino, Japan. The leaves on the trees had turned various colors and were falling off little by little, and collecting under the trees.  
  
Yugi Motou had found it pointless to try to rake them up, as they always blew away again as soon as they were in a pile if you didn't stuff them in a garbage bag and put them by the street right away.  
  
However, Yugi's Grandpa had not seen Yugi's point of view on this matter. In fact, that was the very reason why Yugi was sighing in the last class of the day, as he stared out the window of his classroom.  
  
Grandpa had asked Yugi and his friends to come over after school and rake up the front yard of the Game Shop. He said it would make the shop look more "well-kept" if the lawn were spotless.  
  
And despite the gang's protests, that was exactly what they were going to be doing after school.  
  
"Mr. Motou!"  
  
Yugi looked up, alert, as Mr. Zaliki, their teacher, frowned over at him from the front of the room.   
  
"Uh oh," Yugi thought to himself.  
  
Mr. Zaliki hadn't changed since their trip to the Ancient Festival a few weeks ago. Rather, he'd become even more convinced that Yugi and his friends were troublemakers.  
  
"Is there something you find more interesting outside than the reaction of the two chemicals on page 34 of your book?" he asked sharply, and a few classmates giggled.  
  
Amber Johnson, an exchange student from America rolled her eyes. Only Duke Devlin, who was sitting next to her, saw, and grinned back at her.  
  
A blush crept up Yugi's neck as he looked back at the page.  
  
"No, I'm sorry," he muttered embarrassedly, looking down at the chemicals again.  
  
"Then let's pay more attention," Mr. Zaliki instructed, turning back to the class, just as the bell rang.  
  
"Yes!" Yugi sighed, shoving his books back into his book-bag and running toward the door.  
  
Mr. Zaliki frowned as the rest of the class stampeded out the door as well, leaving behind bits of notebook paper and broken pencils littering the classroom floor.  
  
Only Seto Kaiba, CEO of Kaiba Corporation, was taking his time in getting his things together. Obviously, he was in no rush to get out of school. In fact he preferred to walk out in clear hallways, and not get run over by his classmates.  
  
Mr. Zaliki sighed as he sat down at his desk and watched Seto walk toward the door.  
  
"See you tomorrow, Mr. Kaiba," he said, still in his stern voice, as Seto walked out the door, without a reply.  
  
*********  
  
Outside in the schoolyard, Yugi and his friends were gathered around in a group, waiting to discuss their afternoon plans.  
  
Joey yawned, stretching his arms up into the air.  
  
"Man, that was a nice nap," he mumbled, scratching his back sleepily.  
  
Yugi goggled at him, wondering if Joey really had been sleeping the entire last class. He shook his head and began anyway.  
  
"Okay, remember we've got to be over at my house this afternoon to rake," Yugi reminded everyone.  
  
"I've got dance practice at 6:30, Yugi," Tea Gardner told him, rubbing her bare shoulders to keep warm as a chilly breeze blew by.  
  
She'd forgotten how cold it got starting in October, and therefore, had left her sweater at home.  
  
"So I can't stay for very long," she concluded.  
  
Yugi nodded.  
  
"That's fine," he replied, looking around at his other friends. "There's more than enough of us to get the job done quickly...if the wind cooperates, that is."  
  
Another strong wind blew by them, illustrating Yugi's point.  
  
Ryou Bakura sighed, his shoulders sagging.  
  
"I suppose we ought to get started," he suggested, looking down at his watch.  
  
Joey Wheeler nodded, grimacing.  
  
"Yeah, sure," he sighed as the gang started off down the sidewalk for the Game Shop. "I mean, the last thing I want to do with my October afternoon is rake leaves in Yugi's yard."  
  
Yugi giggled.  
  
"Sorry guys, but you know Grandpa," Yugi replied.  
  
Tristan nodded.  
  
"We sure do," he agreed with a wink.  
  
"I agree with Joey," Duke said, twirling a lock of his long, black hair around his finger as they walked along. "I'd much rather be planning for my Halloween Duel Party."  
  
Amber's face lit up at the mention of the party.  
  
"Yeah! It should be great!" she agreed with a wink, remembering all of Duke's plans for a big party/mini Duel Monster's tournament on Halloween evening.   
  
Yugi nodded in agreement.  
  
"Yes, it'll be lots of fun," he agreed.  
  
Joey laughed evilly, rubbing his hands together.  
  
  
  
"Well what I'm most looking forward to is the tournament part," he chuckled. "I wanna show off my new skills."  
  
Tea raised an eyebrow.  
  
"Well, we haven't played in a tournament since back when Madam Christina decided to hold the Antique Tournament on that island," Tea replied with a shrug. "So it's hard to tell what level everyone is at."  
  
Amber grinned.  
  
"I can't wait to test out my new rare card," she said with a wide grin she couldn't hide.  
  
Joey ran up to her, looking slightly nervous.  
  
"Rare? Like...how rare?" he asked with a nervous smile, sweating.  
  
Amber smiled wider, enjoying playing with Joey.  
  
"Like, SECRET rare," she replied.  
  
Joey gulped.  
  
"Maybe I don't want to play Amber...or Yugi," he thought to himself as they approached the Game Shop. "Or Kaiba..." he added, realizing Duke would probably invite him as well.  
  
Grandpa had already put out several trash bins and had placed a few rakes up against the side of the building. There was no time for stalling.  
  
Yugi sighed.  
  
"Guess it's good we came right here," he muttered, taking a rake. "Looks like he was expecting us."  
  
Amber and Duke took the remaining two rakes, leaving Joey, Tristan, Tea, and Bakura to look around.  
  
"What do we do, Yugi?" Bakura asked meekly.  
  
  
  
Duke grinned.  
  
"I guess the only job left is picking up the leaves once we finish raking them," he said in an innocent tone.  
  
Joey groaned as Tea heaved a trash bin over to where Yugi was beginning to rake up the leaves.  
  
"Well," she thought to herself. "This is a lot better than having to battle against another evil spirit..."  
  
She trailed off, thinking about recent events. The evil spirit possessing Taerro, whose soul was half that of the Vampire Lord, had run away with a magical medallion, and Yugi and the gang had not seen, nor heard from their friend in weeks.  
  
It was beginning to bother Tea, because she knew eventually, the evil spirit would return to defeat Yugi and Yami.  
  
"Tea?"  
  
Tea shook her head quickly, shaking the thoughts from her mind as she realized Yugi was addressing her.  
  
"Oh, what is it Yugi?" she asked, forcing a smile.  
  
Yugi smiled back.  
  
"Oh nothing really, I just thought we should start picking up the leaves before the wind does," he explained, pointing down to a large pile he'd finished raking up near the sidewalk.  
  
Amber grinned.  
  
"Aw, we don't get to jump in them first?" she joked, picking up a handful and dumping the leaves in a bin.  
  
Tristan groaned, heaving a full bin down to the street.  
  
"No way," he muttered, propping it up at the edge of the sidewalk. "This is enough work WITHOUT having to re-do everything."  
  
Amber giggled.  
  
"I was JUST kidding," she replied.  
  
Yugi laughed.  
  
*************  
  
Meanwhile, Seto Kaiba had made his way back to Kaiba Corp, and up to his office on the very top floor of the building. He pulled out his keys and unlocked the door, letting himself into his office.  
  
He flicked on the light, and was not startled to see someone already in the locked office.  
  
"Hello Seto Kaiba," A shadowy outline of a man, who looked very similar to Seto himself, said, floating around.  
  
"Hello, priest," Seto replied calmly, placing his silver briefcase on the floor beside his desk and turning on his computer.  
  
Seto had once inherited some of Bastet's abilities, and during that time, he summoned the spirit of his ancient self, the high priest. Bastet had recently given him the position of watching over Domino, as that was where most of the Millennium Items were, currently.  
  
The priest, as well as trying to track down Taerro, (which he had currently not succeeded at) and make sure the Millennium Items did not fall into the hands of evil, also liked to keep an eye on his reincarnate and Mokuba.  
  
"What are you doing up here?" Seto asked, his voice not changing, as he entered his password into the pop-up that appeared on his computer screen.  
  
Priest Seto shrugged.  
  
"I needed someplace quiet to think," he replied, sighing. "I still cannot find the vampire spirit and the boy he has possessed."  
  
Seto huffed, tapping his fingers impatiently as he waiting for his computer screen to load in.  
  
"I'm simply happy that a crime organization isn't trailing me anymore," Seto replied, shivering slightly at the memories.  
  
Priest Seto narrowed his eyes.  
  
"The crime organization was mortal," he replied sternly. "This spirit is not."  
  
Seto rolled his eyes and didn't reply, choosing instead to open up his code-program and began to type.  
  
Priest Seto sighed and stared over at the TV on the wall, which Seto had flicked on to watch the news in the background. On the screen was a flickering picture of Domino Museum.  
  
"And the latest news for Domino Museum is a few new artifacts in the Ancient Roman wing," The blonde reporter onscreen said, and a few images of statues and ancient culinary equipment filled the screen.  
  
"I saw enough of those in my day," Priest Seto thought with a chuckle, looking over at his reincarnate once more.  
  
He seemed glued to his work.  
  
Priest Seto stood up and floated over to the door.  
  
"Well, I'm going to go out for a while," he called over to Seto, who merely nodded.  
  
"Uh-huh..." he muttered, backspacing a typo.  
  
  
  
Priest Seto grinned and shook his head. He STILL didn't quite understand what was so fascinating about sitting at the desk and typing all day on the little buttons.  
  
Priest Seto, still chuckling, floated over to the door and walked through it.  
  
  
  
************  
  
An hour later, the sun had already hidden itself behind a mass of trees, making the light around Yugi's Game Shop very dim as he waved good-bye to Tristan, Joey, Duke, Amber, and Bakura, who were all just now leaving from their raking duty.  
  
"Oo, I think I'll make some tea when I get home," Bakura mumbled to himself, blowing on his hands to try to keep them warm.  
  
Amber grimaced.  
  
"Tea? No thank you," she giggled as she and Duke waved back to Yugi.  
  
"See you tomorrow pal!" Joey called as he walked down the sidewalk, whistling to himself.  
  
"Bye guys!" Yugi called, waving until his friends were out of sight.   
  
Then, he sighed and walked back into the warmth of the Game Shop. (Well, the house part of it at least) He walked by the kitchen, where his mother was making dinner, and Grandpa was watching the news.  
  
He continued up the stairs and to his bedroom, where he shut the door and lay down on his bed, thinking as he stared up at the ceiling. After a few moments, the silence was broken by a voice.  
  
"What are you thinking about, aibou? (partner)" Yami, the spirit of the Pharaoh who resided in the Millennium Puzzle asked, appearing beside Yugi in a spiritual form, quite like Priest Seto.  
  
Yugi smiled and looked up at Yami.  
  
"Oh...just about Halloween," he replied. "What I'm going to be."  
  
Yami smiled. He didn't really know much about Halloween, but from what Yugi had told him, it seemed that everyone dressed up as someone, or something, else for the evening, ate lots of sweets, and scared people.  
  
"Hm...you could always be a Pharaoh," Yami suggested, with a wink.  
  
Yugi laughed.  
  
"Or a mummy," he laughed, but Yami had stopped laughing.  
  
"That would be mocking the dead," Yami replied darkly, crossing his arms.  
  
Yugi abruptly stopped laughing at the look on Yami's face and cleared his throat.  
  
"Well, I still have time to think about it," he concluded, sighing and looking up at the ceiling.  
  
Yami stared down at Yugi, forgetting the comment about mummies.  
  
"Aibou, what else is on your mind?" he asked gently.  
  
Yugi sighed again.  
  
"Well...I guess I've just been thinking a lot about the evil spirit possessing Taerro...and wondering what we'll do when he comes back," Yugi replied.  
  
Yami nodded, but smiled. He didn't like seeing the normally cheery Yugi looking sad.  
  
"But we do not need to worry about that right now," he replied, although he knew in his mind that they probably should. "Let us go back to thinking about Halloween."  
  
Yugi smiled.  
  
"Yeah!" he agreed.  
  
But as Yami and Yugi discussed costume ideas, the two had no idea of the evil threats that were lurking in the darkness, waiting to emerge and attack...  
  
**********  
  
End of Chapter 1  
  
  
  
PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE! leave a review and let me know what you thought of it. If you've read my series so far, you can probably figure who the evil from the beginning is.  
  
"And if you don't read her series, just think of JACKAL and EGYPT. ^_~"  
  
  
  
Anyway, don't forget the review, and then we'll get Chapter 2 up soon. 


	2. Chapter 2: Plots, Talks, and Plans

Chapter 2: Plans, Talks, and Plots  
  
Notes: Chapter 2 is here! ^_^  
  
"Thanks for the reviews, everyone, and I hope you enjoy this chapter as well!"  
  
Oh, and the jackal is referring to Anubis, and Yami Taerro is still at large, but he's sort of disappeared for a bit. But trust me, he'll be back. ^_~  
  
***********  
  
Chapter 2: Plans, Talks, and Plots  
  
The next morning at school, Yugi was more than happy when the afternoon bell rang for recess and lunch break rang, signaling free-time.  
  
"All right," he mumbled to himself, shoving his science book into his desk and running out of the classroom after the other students.  
  
"Hey, Yugi!" Tea called, causing Yugi to slow down and wait for her as she ran up to him. "Hey," she repeated with a smile. "Duke wants ideas for his party, so we're all going to talk about it at lunch."  
  
Yugi grinned.  
  
"Sounds cool!" he remarked, as the two walked down the hallway together and toward the cafeteria. "Have you decided what you're going to dress up as? For Halloween, I mean," Yugi added, curiously.  
  
Tea blushed.  
  
"Well..." she began as they walked over to the table were Duke, Amber, and Bakura were already sitting. "I had thought about being a dancer, but now I'm not so sure..."  
  
Yugi grinned.  
  
"A dancer is a good idea Tea," he replied with a smile. "I'm sure you'd look really pretty."  
  
Tea almost blushed, but it wasn't noticeable.  
  
"Really? You think so? Thanks..." she replied as she set her brown bag on the table and sat down next to Yugi.  
  
  
  
"Hey guys!" Duke said cheerfully, looking up from a blue notebook where he, Bakura, and Amber had been writing. "We're kinda coming up with ideas and things for the party."  
  
Yugi nodded.  
  
"Yeah, that sounds good. What have you go so far?" Yugi inquired, taking the notebook and looking down at it.  
  
So far, all that was listed was:  
  
*Black and Orange Streamers  
  
*Duel  
  
*Watch Scary Movies  
  
Yugi sweat-dropped and looked up at Duke, who sighed.  
  
"I know it's not much yet," Duke explained quickly. "That's why I'm asking you guys' opinions. I mean, you are the ones coming to this thing."  
  
Amber picked at a chip on the table.  
  
"Well, we could always have a costume contest," Amber announced, scribbling that down on the notebook page.  
  
Duke shrugged.  
  
"It's something," he replied, taking a sip of his drink as Joey and Tristan hurried over to the table, both collapsing in chairs across from Yugi and Tea.  
  
Tea raised an eyebrow, slightly appalled by their sweaty and abrupt entrance.   
  
"Um...should I ask where you two have been?" she asked quizzically, unsure as to whether or not she really wanted an answer.  
  
"Well..." Tristan began, swallowing as he caught his breath. "We were talking to Mr. Zaliki after class about the science projects, and Joey..."  
  
"...and I got a little rough when I moved the rabbit cage for him and the door swung open..." Joey broke in, but was cut off by Tea's gasp.  
  
"You let the rabbits out?" she exclaimed, her eyes wide.  
  
Yugi gulped as Joey and Tristan sweat-dropped, exchanging embarrassed glances.  
  
"Well, just for a second, and only one rabbit got out," Joey replied, smiling nervously.  
  
"Good thing too..." Tristan muttered to himself, opening his lunch bag to see what his mom had packed. "It was hard enough to catch that one."  
  
Yugi chuckled as he tried to think of another idea for his friend. Bakura pulled out a Halloween Oreo, with orange filling instead of white in between the cookies.   
  
"Hm, we'll need food of some sort," he commented, holding up the Halloween Oreo. "These are pretty good."  
  
He took a bite as Duke scribbled down the word "food" on the page under the costume contest.  
  
"We can all bring some food and drinks," Yugi suggested, knowing it wouldn't be fair to make one person provide for the whole party.  
  
"Sure," Tea replied. "I've got some two liters of soda at my house we haven't opened from the last event my parents had. They usually don't like two liters."  
  
Duke grinned, writing that down as well.  
  
"Yeah, yeah, this'll be wonderful," he commented, looking at the page.  
  
Tristan chewed his sandwich as he tried to think of an idea, when suddenly, it came to him.  
  
"Hey, how about we do a haunted house in the backyard?" he asked, looking at the others for approval.  
  
Joey jumped out of his seat.  
  
"All right! Yeah! A really creepy haunted house!" he declared, raising a fist.  
  
Tea scowled.  
  
"But Joey," she protested. "Don't younger kids get scared at that kind of thing?"  
  
  
  
Joey waved his hand casually.  
  
"We'll open it really late," he replied. "Besides, it's mainly just for the party anyway. If no one else wants to help, Tristan and I can do it."  
  
Duke shrugged and wrote down Haunted House on the paper as well.  
  
"Well, okay, as long as you guys do it yourselves and don't make a mess of my backyard," Duke cautioned.  
  
Joey nodded sincerely.  
  
"Aw, don't worry. We'll make it really neat," he replied with a grin.  
  
Tristan nodded in agreement.  
  
"Yeah, don't worry," he added.  
  
Duke scanned the page once more, satisfied.  
  
"Okay," he announced, closing the notebook. "That all sounds great. So, who's going to be coming?" he asked, looking around at the others.  
  
Yugi blinked.  
  
"Er...all of us?" he asked, causing the others to laugh.  
  
"No, no, I mean other than just us," Duke replied, looking around the lunchroom.  
  
  
  
"Oh."  
  
  
  
Yugi shrugged.  
  
"Um...we could invite Kaiba and Mokuba," he suggested, nodding over to where Kaiba was eating lunch by himself while pouring over a book on computer programming.  
  
Joey made a face.  
  
"Do we have to invite Kaiba?" he asked, irritated.  
  
Tea smirked, and leaned a little over the table.  
  
"You just don't want Kaiba to come because you're afraid he's going to beat you if you two have to play in the tournament," she accused playfully, pointing a finger at Joey.  
  
Joey turned beat red.  
  
"Aa, that's not true!" he thundered. "Devlin!" he snapped, causing Duke to shrink back a little in his chair. "Make sure Kaiba's there so I can kick his butt in a duel!" Joey declared, raising a triumphant fist.  
  
Tea chuckled, leaning back toward Yugi.  
  
"I knew that would get him," she thought to herself.  
  
Amber rolled her eyes at Joey.  
  
"Come on, I think it's a little early yet for your victory speech," she informed Joey, who threw her a mean look before sitting back down at the lunch table.  
  
"Anyone else?" Duke asked, looking around at the others again.  
  
Again, Joey raised his hand, this time for suggesting another guest. Duke sighed.  
  
"Who do you want to invite, Joey?" he asked, boredly.  
  
Joey frowned again.  
  
"Well, two people actually. First of all, my mom's letting Serenity spend Halloween with me, so she'll be coming, and secondly, Mai," he said seriously.  
  
Duke shrugged.  
  
"Sure, they can come," he replied casually.  
  
A dreamy look overtook Tristan's face.  
  
"Aa...Serenity..." he thought to himself happily. "Duke had BETTER let her come."  
  
Unfortunately for Tristan, his thoughts were interrupted by the bell that signaled the end of the lunch period. All the other students began to get up and toss their trash into the garbage cans before heading back to their classrooms.  
  
Yugi stood up.  
  
"We'll have to finish the planning later," he said to the others as he hurried for the trash can to dump the rest of his lunch. "I don't want to be late for class!"  
  
Duke nodded, getting up as well, and everyone hurried back to their classes, and a few minutes into class, everyone had forgotten about the fun of the party in the midst of the boring lecture from Mr. Zaliki.  
  
************  
  
Over in the Temple of the gods in Egypt, Bastet opened one eye and looked around. The bright morning light shone in through the small window that was carved into the stone of the walls.  
  
"Hmm..." she muttered as she stretched out on the floor.  
  
Everything looked quite normal, although something didn't seem quite right.  
  
She stood up, her silver nails clacking on the stone floors of the Egyptian temple as she walked along, sniffing the air, trying to track down the mysterious scent.  
  
As she walked, Thoth appeared on the other side of the room, and looked around wildly for a moment before spotting Bastet.  
  
  
  
"Bastet!" he cried, causing her to twirl around, glaring at him with her yellow eyes.  
  
"What is it, Thoth?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.  
  
Usually Thoth was the calm and collected one. He didn't often get very paranoid about anything.  
  
"It's Anubis," Thoth said darkly, narrowing his beady eyes. "I can't find him anywhere, and Ra suspects that he has left!"  
  
Bastet raised her eyebrows in surprise.  
  
"Left?" she repeated. "What in the world!?"  
  
"That's exactly what I thought as well," Thoth sighed, looking around at the empty room of the temple they were in. "What could Anubis be up to? We know as well as any that he isn't one to be trusted."  
  
Bastet nodded, remembering the last time Anubis left the temple he had tried to take over all of Egypt. Fortunately, he had been prevented from doing so by Seto, Yugi, and the others, and Bastet and Thoth themselves.  
  
But now what could Anubis want...?  
  
Bastet sighed and shook her head darkly.  
  
"This is bad, Thoth," she said seriously. "There's no telling what Anubis might be up to."  
  
Thoth nodded in agreement.  
  
***********  
  
It was a windy afternoon when the school-bell finally rang, signaling the end of the school day. Once again, everyone hurried toward the door, eager to get away from school, especially since it was Friday, meaning two days of no school were just ahead.  
  
Yugi was walking home with Tea and Joey, and the three were happily talking about the Halloween party.  
  
"So, have you decided what you're going to be, Joey?" Yugi asked with a grin, as they walked across the street and over to the sidewalk on the other side.  
  
Joey frowned and shrugged.  
  
"Aa, I don't know yet," he muttered, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jeans. "Not quite sure what'd be good on me."  
  
Tea grinned.  
  
"Try being a skeleton," she suggested, causing Yugi to giggle.  
  
Joey narrowed his eyes at her.  
  
"Very funny Tea, but I'm looking for real suggestions here," Joey retorted.  
  
Tea put her hands on her hips.  
  
"I WAS being serious," she replied, slightly irritated. "I think you'd look good as a skeleton."  
  
Joey shrugged.  
  
"I dunno, maybe," he replied as a cool breeze blew by, blowing Tea's bangs back.  
  
Yugi smiled again.  
  
"I haven't decided what I'm going to be either," Yugi said, hoping to make Joey feel a little better. "Maybe I should just be a ghost or something easy."  
  
Joey looked at Yugi's hair.  
  
"Er...I don't think you'd make a real good ghost, Yug, no offense or anything," he said with an embarrassed grin.  
  
Yugi shrugged as they approached the Game Shop.  
  
"But anyway, the whole thing's not just about the costumes, it's also a Duel Monster's tournament," Yugi reminded his friends as they walked up to the door of the shop. "We've all got to get our decks in tip-top shape."  
  
Tea nodded.  
  
"Yeah...I haven't dueled in a LONG time," she said, looking up at the sky with her finger to her chin in thought. "Hm...not since Madam Christina's tournament."  
  
She laughed.  
  
"Well, I don't duel as much as you guys do," she reminded them as they walked inside the Game Shop.  
  
Yugi nodded.  
  
"Yeah...but I know we'll all do our best," he replied, waving to his grandfather who was standing behind the counter.  
  
Joey dug into his pockets as Grandpa grinned.  
  
"Hello, Yugi!" he called cheerfully. "Joey, Tea, it's nice to see you two too."  
  
Joey pulled out a few paper bills and spread them out on the counter with a smile.  
  
"I'll take one pack please," he grinned.  
  
Tea and Yugi exchanged glances.  
  
"Joey's trying to boost his deck's power," Yugi thought to himself with a smile.  
  
"Who knows? Maybe he'll get some special card..." Tea thought as Joey ripped open the shiny card packaging and gleefully thumbed through his cards.  
  
***********  
  
Meanwhile, at Bakura's house, Bakura had walked into his room, which was unpleasantly cold. Shivering, he walked over to the window, dropping his agenda book. Bakura turned the air conditioner off, realizing he must have forgotten to shut it down before school that morning.  
  
He was just about to turn around when the Millennium Ring around his neck activated, lighting up with gold light, and changing the user of the body to the evil spirit inside the ring.  
  
Yami Bakura removed Bakura's back pack from his shoulders and tossed it across the room to Bakura's bed, and then looked down at the floor at the planner book Bakura had dropped.  
  
"What are you planning this week...?" Yami Bakura asked aloud, picking up the book and flipping through it as he sat down on the edge of Bakura's bed.   
  
He grinned at the next Friday's note; "Halloween Party/Mini-Tournament at Duke's"  
  
"Well, well," Yami Bakura thought evilly to himself. "This might be just the time to get what I'm seeking from Bakura's friends, as no doubt they'll be there."  
  
He grinned, snapping the planner shut.  
  
"And hopefully, so will Seto Kaiba," he added, narrowing his eyes in delight.  
  
************  
  
End of Chapter 2  
  
  
  
Please review, let me know what you think of the chapter, and the story so far. And comment would be appreciated. ^^  
  
"And then we'll get the next chapter up within the day or two."  
  
^_~ 


	3. Chapter 3: Shop 'Till You Drop

Chapter 3: Shop Till You Drop  
  
Notes: Chapter 3, coming your way!  
  
"And thanks for the reviews on previous chapters, everyone! ^_~"  
  
**********  
  
Chapter 3: Shop Till You Drop  
  
It was late that evening when Yugi finally went upstairs to his bedroom. He and his mother and grandfather had gone out to eat that evening, and then gone to a movie.  
  
It had been fun, although Yugi's mind had been wandering back to the Halloween party during the film.  
  
Tired, but satisfied, Yugi shut the door to his room and rummaged through his drawers for his pajamas, more than ready for bed. Just as he had managed to locate his light blue pajama pants, the phone on the desk behind him rang.  
  
Yugi jumped, and turned around, momentarily startled by the phone's ring.  
  
"Oh, it's just the phone," he laughed, walking over to answer it as Yami appeared in spiritual form, sitting on the bed.  
  
"Hello?" Yugi asked, holding the phone up to his ear.  
  
"Hey Yugi!" Came a smooth voice, which Yugi recognized as Mai Valentine's.  
  
"Mai?" Yugi asked in disbelief, wondering what in the world Mai could possibly want at this hour.  
  
"Sorry for the late call, hon," she apologized, talking quickly. "But Joey JUST told me about Duke's little Halloween party/tournament thing."  
  
Yugi nodded.  
  
"He did?" he repeated.  
  
  
  
"Yes," Mai replied, continuing with her idea. "ANYWAY, I thought that since everyone's helping Duke out in setting this thing up, it would be a good idea for us all to get together at the mall tomorrow and kind of, you know, shop for the party essentials and things."  
  
Yugi blinked.  
  
The mall was not exactly his favorite place to go on the weekends, but if everyone else was going, maybe he wouldn't mind so much.  
  
"Um...does Duke know about this?" he asked timidly.  
  
There was an impatient sigh from the other end of the phone.  
  
"Well of course, hon," Mai informed him, laughing. "It's HIS party, after all. Anyway, you're going to be there right? We were thinking about meeting each other after lunch, around one."  
  
Yugi looked at the door, wondering if he ought to ask Grandpa's permission first, but decided against it. Grandpa was probably asleep already, and probably would let Yugi go anyway.  
  
"Sure, I'll be there," Yugi replied with a yawn, glancing over at his clock, which read 11:03.  
  
"Well, that's all I really had to say, hon," Mai said, and there was a rustle of papers or something near the phone. "Anyway, nice to hear from you again, and see you tomorrow."  
  
"You too," Yugi replied. "Bye."  
  
Yugi brought the phone back down on the receiver, sighing.  
  
"Shopping with your friends should be fun," Yami said, staring at Yugi from the bed, where he was still perched.  
  
Yugi shrugged.  
  
"Well, I guess shopping for party supplies is a little different from shopping for clothes and shoes," he agreed, pulling his clothes off and slipping into his pajamas.  
  
"Oh?" Yami inquired, raising an eyebrow. "What's wrong with shopping for those things?"  
  
Yugi chuckled, pulling his shirt over his hair and head.  
  
"Well, it's a nightmare when you go with my mom," Yugi explained, turning around and facing his spiritual partner. "She always wants to look at everything, for me to try ON everything, and then ends up spending an hour debating on whether or not things are a good sale."  
  
Yami's eyes widened.  
  
"It doesn't sound very pleasant," he admitted as Yugi crawled onto the bed and pulled the covers up, only reaching out to turn off the light.  
  
Yugi nodded under the blanket.  
  
"Yeah...it doesn't really give you a good impression of shopping," he mumbled, his eyes drooping shut.  
  
Yami smiled.  
  
"Well, good night Yugi," he called to his host, returning to his soul room in the Millennium Puzzle.  
  
Yugi, however, had already fallen asleep, and didn't reply.  
  
************  
  
Seto was busy at Kaiba Mansion, not with typing on his laptop, as he usually spent his evenings, but playing a board game with Mokuba on the dining room table.  
  
"So, have you decided what you're going to be for Halloween, niisama?" Mokuba asked curiously as he moved his piece along the game board.  
  
Seto shrugged.  
  
"I don't really know if I'm going to be anything," he replied truthfully, hoping Mokuba wouldn't mind too much.  
  
Mokuba's face fell.  
  
"Aww...but you have to be SOMETHING niisama!" Mokuba protested. "What about the Halloween Party Duke Devlin invited us to? You'll have a dress up for that."  
  
Seto sighed, and rolled the dice on the board.  
  
"Well then, why don't you give me some ideas," he replied, picking up his token and moving it ahead of Mokuba's.  
  
Priest Seto, who was floating above them, watching the game, raised an eyebrow.  
  
"What is the point of Halloween?" he asked, feeling rather ignorant.  
  
"Well, it was originally to make fun of the devil," Seto explained. "You'd dress up in scary costume and make lots of noise. It's slightly evolved since it was first introduced."  
  
Priest Seto raised both eyebrows.  
  
"I see..." he replied.  
  
Mokuba grinned.  
  
"Well, I'm going to be a werewolf, so you can't be that," he thought out loud, not noticing it was his turn. "You could be a vampire!" he suggested exuberantly.  
  
Seto shrugged as Priest Seto frowned. Vampire only brought one image to mind, and that was Taerro...and the ancient man whose spirit was possessing him at the time.  
  
"I'll think about it," he replied, pushing the dice toward his brother. "But in the meantime, it's your turn."  
  
"Oh yeah!" Mokuba cried, grabbing the dice and rolling them across the board. "I forgot."  
  
Seto smiled and leaned back in his chair a bit as Mokuba once again took the lead in the game.  
  
***********  
  
The next morning, Yugi woke up early and spent most of the morning sorting through his dueling deck, taking out cards for more useful ones, and discussing new strategies with Yami.  
  
"I'm not sure if holding out for three ritual monsters is a good idea, Yugi," Yami said truthfully, frowning as Yugi held up the powerful ritual monster. "We already have Black Luster Soldier and Magician of Black Chaos. If we added another, we'd end up with the wrong magic card and monster in our hands nearly every time."  
  
Yugi sighed, realizing his partner was right.  
  
"Well, two is good enough anyway," Yugi agreed, putting the monster back in his box of cards he wasn't using at the time. "I think if we tweak the deck anymore, it's only going to get worse, though," he chuckled. "We've got a pretty good deck as it is."  
  
Yami smiled and nodded.  
  
"Ah," he agreed, as Yugi shuffled the deck and put it in the special card holster pocket on one of his belts.  
  
Yami's eyes wandered over to the clock sitting on Yugi's dresser.  
  
"12:34..." he muttered. "I think that means you should get going, aibou."  
  
Yugi looked up at the clock and jumped.  
  
"Yeah," he cried, rushing over and grabbing his backpack, slinging it over his shoulder, and running down the stairs of his house, leaving his bedroom door wide open.  
  
Yami's spirit disappeared, returning to the Millennium Puzzle to accompany his partner to the mall.  
  
*************  
  
Duke and Amber were waiting just inside the main entrance to the mall for the others to arrive. Amber was sitting, bored, on a bench that was against the wall while Duke was looking through the window of the store behind them.  
  
"This place looks like it could have some cool decorations," Duke muttered, turning back toward Amber.  
  
Amber shrugged.  
  
"That's good," she replied with a smile, which faded into a frown as she checked her watch. "Where IS everyone?" she muttered, standing up and placing her hand on her hip. "I mean, it's already past one. You'd think at least someone would be here by now."  
  
Duke shrugged with a smile.  
  
"Oh well, maybe it's better this way," he commented, taking Amber's arm and pulling her into the shop.  
  
Everything on the shelves in the front of the store was either colored orange, or black, and bags of candy lined other shelves in obvious preparation for the upcoming holiday.  
  
"At least this way we can make decisions ourselves without anyone complaining," Duke pointed out.  
  
Amber nodded.  
  
"You've got a point," she replied, looking around with a sigh. "Though I still find it weird that Mai's not here yet. I mean, she DID organize this little "shopping expedition."  
  
Duke laughed.  
  
"Okay, I'll look for stuff in the back, and you look at the candy," Duke instructed. "Be sure to pick out good stuff," he added, walking down an aisle.  
  
"Sure thing!" she called after him, waving.  
  
Amber bent down to play with a singing skeleton while Duke examined the streamers in the back of the store. Suddenly, two people burst into the store. The first, was none other than Mai Valentine herself. The second was Yugi.  
  
Yugi bent over, panting.  
  
"Sorry I'm late," Yugi wheezed, leaning against a rack to catch his breath. "I lost track of time at home."  
  
"And I couldn't get a cab," Mai huffed, putting her hands on her hips in annoyance. "I tell you, service these days has REALLY gone down in quality."  
  
Amber raised an eyebrow, but resisted a comment. She'd only met Mai on a few occasions, and so far, she hadn't found anything the she and Mai had in common.  
  
"Ok," Amber said, choosing not to reply. "Duke and I are just looking for decorations and stuff."  
  
Mai made a clicking noise with her tongue and put her arm around Amber's shoulder, pulling her close, as if to whisper in her ear.  
  
"Hon, listen, we girls will shop for the decorations," she said with a sly grin. "The guys need to go buy their costumes."  
  
Yugi raised an eyebrow. What was Mai up to? He thought to himself. Yugi could tell Amber was not a touchy-feely person, as she cringed as Mai pulled her closer.  
  
"Um...okay, but..." Amber started to protest, wrestling herself away from Mai in a discreet way. "Why are the girls the only ones shopping for decorations?"  
  
"Yeah, why?" Came Tea's voice as she, Joey, Tristan, and Bakura walked up behind them.  
  
Mai grinned.  
  
"You'll see," she said simply, shepherding the boys over to the door. "Now have fun," she said with a wink, walking back into the store.  
  
Joey blinked.  
  
"Can someone tell me what's going on?" he asked, scratching his head.  
  
Tristan crossed his arms, irritated.  
  
"Hmph, obviously MAI must think we have no sense of style or something," he huffed.  
  
Bakura shrugged.  
  
"Either that or she wants us to get good costumes," he suggested, as the four turned to walk down the mall hallway.  
  
Yugi sighed.  
  
"Oh well, I know there's a good costume place upstairs," he said, stopping and pointing to the stairs to the left. "Let's check it out!"  
  
Joey nodded.  
  
  
  
"All right!" he replied, running up the stairs, Tristan right behind him.  
  
"Wait up guys!" Yugi called, running after his friends frantically.  
  
Bakura, however, didn't move. There was a vague glow from underneath his blue shirt, and Yami Bakura took over the body. He looked around at the shoppers in the mall, and at the stores.  
  
"A Halloween party..." he thought to himself. "It seems this might be a chance I'm looking for, so I'll need to be prepared."  
  
He walked down the hallway and past an eerie looking store with a glowing black sign that read: "Costumes"  
  
"Hmm..." he thought, peering into the dimly lit store.  
  
Hardly anyone was shopping in the dreary-looking store, with its dim lighting and black walls and carpeting. Only a bored-looking teenager was there, sitting at the front desk flipping through a manga. (Japanese comic books)  
  
Yami Bakura grinned as he stepped into the shop, eyes scanning the shelves eagerly.  
  
"This might be just the place I need," he said aloud, walking into the store.  
  
************  
  
End of Chapter 3  
  
Next chapter up soon! Review for now please!!! 


	4. Chapter 4: Problems

Chapter 4: Problems  
  
Notes: In reply to Lady of the Thread's review on my other fic, yes, Seto has had enough fights for a while. X_x And Chapter 4 is up next! -SK  
  
"Or up now, I suppose. -_-; Thanks for reviewing everyone, and here we go!" -Red  
  
**********  
  
Chapter 4: Problems  
  
Bastet frowned, looking around outside at the paw-prints that were leading out into the desert. She followed them for about fifty feet, but then, they disappeared, meaning only one thing.  
  
"He transported himself somewhere else," she hissed, bearing her silver fangs angrily. "But where? And why?"  
  
She turned around, looking back at the temple in the distance. The other gods had never gotten along perfectly well with each other. When you have abilities, authority, and power, it's nearly impossible TO get along.  
  
But most of the gods had developed a respect for each other, and didn't usually pick fights with each other, or vanish without a trace.  
  
"Revenge..." Bastet thought to herself suddenly.  
  
Anubis had always hated her. He'd hated her from the moment she hid the two coins on the order of Osiris and then had her memories of the locations suppressed.  
  
But ever since his defeat at the hands of not only her, but also Thoth, Yugi, and his friends, he'd been especially cold to her, and spent most of his time up on the roof of the temple, thinking.  
  
"Or plotting," Bastet thought darkly to herself, narrowing her yellow eyes. "If he's been planning anything, he'll have to get rid of me, and the mortals possessing the Millennium Items in Domino..."  
  
***********  
  
  
  
Amber and Tea sighed as Mai shuffled through stacks of letters, decorated with orange and black sparkles, spelling out the words, "Happy Halloween."  
  
  
  
"I think we're spending too much time on just the banner," Tea muttered, checking her watch. "Besides, why did only girls have to do this? I mean, it'd be done a LOT faster if all the guys were helping too."  
  
Amber didn't say anything. She was leaning against the brick wall, an irritated look across her face. She let out a sigh. This was DUKE'S party, not Mai's, so who was she to make up the rules?  
  
Mai chuckled, pulling out a stream of orange letters.  
  
"Well, everyone knows that guys have no sense of fashion," Mai replied with a grin, holding up the letters. "They'd make the place look trashy. Do these look okay?" she asked, holding them out for Tea and Amber to see.  
  
Tea grinned.  
  
"Yeah! Yep! They're perfect!" she said quickly, sweat-dropping. "Let's move on now."  
  
Amber rolled her eyes.  
  
"Let's split up," she suggested coldly. "That way, we'd be able to get done faster."  
  
  
  
With that, she hurried away from Tea and Mai before either could make a reply. Mai shrugged, as Tea blinked after Amber.  
  
"Oh well, let's go pick out table settings now," she suggested to Tea, pulling her down the second aisle.  
  
"Okay...whoa!" Tea cried as she was dragged along after Mai.  
  
***********  
  
Meanwhile, Yugi, Joey, and Tristan had reached the costume store upstairs and were fishing through piles of colorful costumes, trying to decide on what they should pick out.  
  
"Hmm..." Joey muttered, picking up a large black and white costume. "Tea did mention a skeleton would look good on me," he said, holding it up to him. "And what do you know? This looks like it'll fit. What'd you think?"  
  
Yugi smiled, putting down part of a broken wing.  
  
"Sure Joey, I bet it'll look great," he replied with a grin.  
  
Tristan shrugged as he turned around, and right into a billowy, white ball-gown, which obscured Yugi and Joey from view.  
  
"Yuck," he muttered, punching it out of the way so that he could see again. "Sure, whatever." He replied to Joey's costume suggestion. "Go try it on and see what it looks like."  
  
Joey shrugged, walking over to dressing room.  
  
"Okay, sure," he replied, closing the door with a slam.  
  
Yugi rustled through a pile of miscellaneous costumes when on in particular caught his eye.  
  
"Hmm..." he thought, lifting up a gold, white, and purple outfit, remembering his talk with Yami the night before. "Maybe this will do..." he thought with a clever smile.  
  
***********  
  
An hour later, Amber and Duke had finished shopping for streamers, candy, noise makers, and their own costumes. Laughing they walked back into the shop where Amber had managed to leave Tea and Mai.  
  
"Well, I think we've thought of everything," Amber said cheerfully, now in a much better mood than before.  
  
Duke looked down at his list.  
  
"Yep, pretty much. All the way down to the Halloween Oreos Bakura suggested," he said, peering down into one of the shopping bags.  
  
Amber chuckled, and her eyes wandered around, looking for Mai and Tea. Mai was picking out balloons at the counter, and Tea was sitting on a crate of Halloween pumpkins, reading a magazine with a very tired expression on her face.  
  
Amber felt a little guilty for leaving her, but shook off the feeling.  
  
"I hope Mai's getting the foil balloons," she muttered to Duke as they walked up to their friends. "Cause regular ones aren't going to last a week until the party."  
  
Mai laughed, turning around.  
  
"Of course I got the foil ones," she said, holding out a few. "You honestly don't think I'd buy regular ones do you?"  
  
Amber didn't reply. Tea, however, looked up at smiled gratefully.  
  
"Oh, so we're all done?" she asked, a little too eagerly as she looked from Amber, to Mai, to Duke.  
  
Duke shrugged.  
  
"I guess," he muttered, twirling a lock of his hair around his index finger. "We just have to track down the others."  
  
Mai checked her bags.  
  
  
  
"I got a few things," she said, frowning. "Though I didn't have time to look through the other aisles. I guess it'll do though."  
  
Duke grinned, sweat-dropping.  
  
"Uh...yeah," he replied, looking at the door as a few people walked in, followed by Bakura, who had a small, plastic bag in his hands, containing some black material.  
  
"Hey Bakura!" Tea called, walking over to her friend. "What did you buy?" she asked, curiously, peering down into the bag.  
  
Bakura pulled the handles closer together, so Tea couldn't make out what was in the bag.  
  
"It's my Halloween costume," he said simply. "I don't want you to see it yet. It'll be a surprise at the Halloween party."  
  
  
  
Tea raised an eyebrow for a moment, but then smiled.  
  
"Sure," she replied happily. "That'll be cool."  
  
She looked around behind him.  
  
"Say, where's everyone else?" she asked, looking puzzled.  
  
Yami Bakura thought fast about what to have Bakura say. He didn't want to blow his cover already, although Tea's nosiness was coming close to doing just so.  
  
"Oh, they went to a store upstairs," Bakura said blinking innocently. "I saw a different shop and decided to try that out first."  
  
Amber, Duke, and Mai walked up behind Tea.  
  
"Cool," Mai replied with a grin. "So you guys really did go get your costumes. Excellent."  
  
Bakura smiled.  
  
"Yes," he replied happily. "I wonder what kinds of costumes Yugi and Joey picked out."  
  
**********  
  
Meanwhile, Joey, Yugi and Tristan had made their purchases and were now walking down the stairs of the mall again, chatting amongst themselves.  
  
"Man, there was a TON of costumes up there," Joey remarked, peering into his bag at his skeleton costume.  
  
Tristan shrugged.  
  
"I guess," he replied. "Although you couldn't pay me to wear some of them."  
  
Yugi smiled. He was quite content with his costume, and he was sure Yami would like it as well. Joey scratched his head, looking back and forth from Tristan to Yugi.  
  
"What's up, Joey?" Yugi asked, raising an eyebrow as they reached the bottom of the staircase.  
  
Joey looked confused.  
  
"Maybe it's just me, but I feel like I'm missing something..." he muttered, looking around the ground floor.  
  
Yugi gasped.  
  
"Yeah! Bakura!" he cried, looking at Tristan and Joey nervously. "Where did he go?"  
  
"Bakura!" Tristan called, cupping his hands together and calling through the mall.  
  
Joey suddenly ran over to the shop where they met up with Amber and Mai when they arrived.  
  
"There he is!" Joey called, pointing ahead at Amber, Duke, Mai, Tea, and Bakura, who were all talking together.  
  
Bakura blinked and turned around, smiling.  
  
"Oh, yeah Joey," Bakura replied calmly. "Did you find what you were looking for?"  
  
Joey gaped.  
  
"Well, I guess...but where they heck were you?!" he exclaimed, pointing at Bakura again. "I mean, weren't you following us?"  
  
Bakura smiled even more mysteriously and shrugged.  
  
"I saw another shop and decided to look there," he replied. "You three were already up the stairs at the time, so I didn't bother going after you to tell you where I was."  
  
Yugi raised an eyebrow. Something wasn't right here...  
  
Yami sensed that as well, as he appeared in spirit-form beside Yugi, eyes narrowed at Bakura.  
  
"Surely..." he thought to himself. "Surely this is the evil spirit of the Millennium Ring talking. But what could he want with Bakura's body in the mall?"  
  
Tristan heaved his bag over his shoulder, growing tired of standing around.  
  
"Look, guys, we've been here for almost three hours," he complained, checking his watch. "I want to get home in time for the game show tonight."  
  
Joey leaned over Tristan to check his watch as well.  
  
"I just want to get out of here...period," Joey muttered, leaning back again.  
  
Mai's eyes suddenly lit up.  
  
"Hey..." she said slyly, pulling Amber and Tea close again. "Why not you boys run along home, and we girls will stay here for a while."  
  
Amber's eyes widened in horror.  
  
"No!!!" she screamed in her mind.  
  
Duke, however, unaware of Amber's feelings toward this proposal, merely shrugged and switched his bag from his left hand to his right hand.  
  
"Sure, if you guys want to," he replied glancing longingly at the door. "I kind of want to go home."  
  
Yugi grinned up at Joey and Tristan.  
  
"Do you guys want to come over and duel or something?" he asked them. "You too, Bakura," he added, realizing he'd left out his white-hared friend.  
  
Joey's face lit up.  
  
"Yeah!" he replied, punching one hand into his fist. "Let's get in some practice for the tournament!"  
  
"Sounds fine with me," Bakura replied and Tristan grinned.  
  
"Yeah sure," he added.  
  
Mai smiled.  
  
  
  
"And we girls can hang out here for a bit," she concluded.  
  
Tea didn't look anymore happy about the new arrangements than Amber did, but she forced a smile.  
  
"Um...okay," she replied edgily.   
  
What did Mai want to talk about that the boys couldn't hear?  
  
Amber didn't reply. Instead, she groaned softly.  
  
"Why do I get sucked into these things?" she muttered to herself as the boys headed for the door.  
  
"Later!" Duke called, waving to Amber, who waved a weak little wave back at him.  
  
"Yeah, and you're welcome to come over too, when you're finished," Yugi added, opening the front door.  
  
"Sure, hon!" Mai called back, then turned back to Amber and Tea.  
  
"What did you want us alone for, Mai?" Tea asked, raising an eyebrow.  
  
Amber folded her arms as well.  
  
"Yeah," she put in.  
  
Mai grinned.  
  
"Well, I just wanted to talk to you two about something, but we look silly standing around in the mall like this," she said, walking toward the food court. "Come on!"  
  
Tea shrugged and followed, and Amber trudged along behind her, arms still crossed.  
  
***********  
  
Outside, the sun was beginning to set as Yugi, Tristan, Joey, and Bakura headed back toward the Game Shop after saying good-bye to Duke, who was going back to the Black Crown.  
  
As they passed by a wooded area of the park, there was a rustle in the bushes, but none of them noticed. Inside the darkness of the bushes, however, two red eyes gleamed out, staring at Yugi and the others.  
  
The figure in the bushes grinned evilly.  
  
"Well now, it seems the guard is down," The figure muttered to himself in a whispery-voice, watching the group cross the street. "And the moment to strike is approaching."  
  
He cackled a quite high-pitched laugh before walking away from the park, content with his new plan.  
  
***********  
  
Meanwhile, out in the evening sunlight in the deserts of Eygpt, a blue light flashed in front of a new-looking temple and Thoth appeared, looking around skeptically.  
  
His beady eyes fell on the building, and he narrowed them in suspicion.  
  
"Anubis is definitely up to something," he said to himself, walking forward and toward the building. "This building collapsed the last time we were in it. Only magic can restore it like this in such a short time."  
  
He walked up the fresh-cut stone floors, and toward the entrance to the maze-like temple. It was a place that Thoth, and the other gods and goddesses, did not visit often, as it was Anubis's special temple.  
  
Inside were hidden panels, traps, and mazes, though Thoth already knew them all. He'd studied the temple after Anubis had built it, and learned its secrets to be safe.  
  
"There is nothing Anubis can hide in here that I cannot find," Thoth declared, walking into the temple.  
  
***********  
  
End of Chapter 4  
  
"Please review!"  
  
Thanks, and next chapter up soon! 


	5. Chapter 5: Cornered

Chapter 5: Cornered  
  
Notes: Okay! Here's Chapter 5! And yes, Mai is a bit scary righ tnow, but it will get funny in this chapter. Well, at least to her. :P And sorry, Seto and Priest Seto aren't in this chapter, but next chapter we'll get back to them.  
  
"Oh yeah, and it's about time for a duel, don't you think? ^_~ Get ready!"  
  
**********  
  
Chapter 5: Cornered  
  
Amber, Tea, and Mai were soon seated in a small booth in the middle of the food court, Tea and Mai with ice-tea and Amber with a soda. Amber rummaged through her backpack in boredom, but her face brightened upon seeing a letter.  
  
She pulled it out and began to tear it open, eagerly.  
  
Mai raised an eyebrow.  
  
"You always stash your mail in your backpack?" she sarcastically.  
  
Amber shook her head, pulling out a letter written in semi-neat cursive, English handwriting.  
  
"No, just when Duke and I were running out to get to the mall, I noticed the mail had come, so I just grabbed it and put it in my bag for the heck of it."  
  
Mai nodded.  
  
"Oh," she replied, watching as Amber read the note with a smile on her face. "So who's been writing to you?"  
  
Amber looked up, slightly annoyed at the interruption.  
  
"My little cousin, Pearl," she replied, finishing the letter. "She always used to hang out with my back home, and she just turned ten a week ago. I can't believe I missed her tenth birthday."  
  
She sighed.  
  
Tea raised an eyebrow.  
  
"Well, you could always send her a belated birthday gift," she suggested.  
  
Amber laughed.  
  
"No, it's not that I missed any old birthday," she replied with a smile. "It's just that tenth birthdays are especially important in our family."  
  
Mai looked skeptically over at Amber.  
  
"Why is that?" she asked. "Ten is just like twenty, although when you turn twenty, you've got more freedom."  
  
Amber rolled her eyes.  
  
"No..." she muttered, looking down at her amber pendant. "You see, it's sort of been a tradition ever since my great grandmother was named Amber, like me. She decided she would name all of her children after stones, and that's why my mom is Sapphire and my cousin is Pearl."  
  
Tea smiled.  
  
"That's cool," she replied, interested. "So what has this got to do with the pendant?" she inquired, looking down at Amber's pendant.  
  
"Well, it's also part of the tradition that on someone's tenth birthday, they would receive as part of their gift a pendant with the stone that they were named after."  
  
Mai shrugged.  
  
"Well, what if you didn't like the stone that you were named after?" she asked.  
  
Amber narrowed her eyes.  
  
"You learn to like it," Amber replied icily.  
  
"So, Mai," Tea interrupted, not wanting a fight to break out as she looked up at their blonde-hared friend curiously. "What did you want to talk about, anyway."  
  
Mai smiled slyly.  
  
"Well...I want to know if either of you have made a move on your boyfriends yet," she replied calmly, taking another sip.  
  
Amber and Tea both turned bright red, in both embarrassment and outrage.  
  
"Mai!" Tea cried in irritation, standing up. "What kind of a question is that?!"  
  
Mai grinned.  
  
"One I'd like you to answer," she replied sweetly. "Just curious you know. I haven't been hanging out with you gals since summer."  
  
Amber clenched her fists under the table.  
  
"How nosy!" she thought angrily, taking a sip of her drink.  
  
"Now, Mai, why is this any of YOUR business?" Amber asked, trying to stay calm.  
  
Mai shrugged.  
  
"Well, its just so obvious that you both are crushing Yugi and Duke," she replied, tossing a lock of her blonde hair behind her.  
  
"Is not!" Tea shot back, her face growing even redder.  
  
Amber picked up her backpack and stood up, angrily.  
  
"Well, if you girls don't mind, I think I'll be going home," Amber replied, turning on her heel and walking away from the table.  
  
"I don't mind!" Tea replied, running after her, leaving Mai chuckling to herself.  
  
***********  
  
Thoth walked down the paths of the temple, looking from one wall to another. Anubis was in there somewhere...he could sense it.  
  
As he turned the corner, he raised his eyebrows, realizing that the room he was now facing was an embalming chamber, with long tables laid out and heaps of bandages and herbs were piled in basins nearby.  
  
Thoth raised an eyebrow. Anubis had a room like this in the old temple, and that very room had been where he and Bastet had fought their battle against Anubis with Yugi, Seto, and their reincarnates.  
  
"Strange..." he muttered, remembering the battle, and how it had been that battle that had caused Anubis to become so hostile toward he and Bastet.  
  
Suddenly, there was a noise from behind him, like a clank of metal and whoosh, as though someone had ran past the room. Thoth's beady eyes looked left, and right, slowly, studying the room for any new arrivers.  
  
"Anubis?" he called out, knowing it would be very likely that Anubis was hiding out here. "Anubis, it is I, Thoth."  
  
There was a clatter from behind him, and Thoth whirled around to come face to face with the jackal-headed man, whose broad grin was extending over his face in an evil manner.  
  
"Anubis!" Thoth gasped, backing up, surprised.  
  
Anubis grinned.  
  
"Surprised to see me Thoth?" he asked in a fake-pleasant voice, walking close to the ibis-headed man. "You shouldn't really be, as this is my private temple."  
  
Thoth narrowed his eyes.  
  
"You've rebuilt it I see," Thoth commented, not taking his eyes off Anubis, or the large, ax-like weapon that was in his clawed hands.  
  
Anubis smirked.  
  
  
  
"That I have," he replied, grinning further as he continued to advance on Thoth. "Because you and Bastet and your foolish mortal friends destroyed it during your last...visit."  
  
Thoth didn't move, nor did he reply.  
  
Anubis sighed.  
  
"That's why I don't welcome anymore, visitors, to my temple these days," he said, raising his weapon a tad.  
  
Thoth's eyes began to glow bright blue, ready to use his powers against Anubis if necessary, but with one swift blow, the heavy, silver ax crashed down on an unsuspecting Thoth's head, causing him to fall unconsciously to the floor.  
  
Anubis grinned as the blue glow faded from Thoth's eyes as they closed, and chuckled.  
  
"Well, that's one down for my revenge," he said aloud, hoisting up Thoth's body and dragging him over to one of the embalming tables. "And I have a feeling he won't be giving me anymore trouble for a good while."  
  
He uncorked one of the embalming bottles on the tables and scooped out a bit of the powder that was inside. Carefully, he sprinkled a bit over Thoth's body, and a greenish mist formed for a moment, then died down.  
  
Anubis put the cork back in the bottle and turned around, still grinning at his success.  
  
"Now, on to collect my next...ingredient," he muttered with a chuckle, picking up his ax again and raising it up over the doorway, causing another green mist to form over the arch of the door after he passed through.  
  
Grinning, Anubis stalked out of the temple.  
  
***********  
  
As Amber closed the door to the mall, she was greeted by a blast of cool, fall air, and she shivered for a moment before walking down to the sidewalk. It was evening now, and the sun was setting behind the trees, causing long shadows to form on the sidewalks and the streetlights to turn on.  
  
Ug, that Mai has some nerve, Amber thought to herself as she walked along, frowning. First prying into my mail, and then into my romantic life!  
  
"Amber!" Came a voice from behind her, and Amber turned around to see Tea running toward her, waving her hand.  
  
Amber paused and waiting for her friend to catch up.  
  
"You sick of her too?" Amber asked bluntly, waiting for Tea to catch her breath.  
  
Tea stood up straighter and nodded.  
  
"Yeah," she replied, brushing a lock of her hair behind her ear. "I've always found it hard to get along with Mai," she muttered as the two started walking again.  
  
Amber scowled.  
  
"I'll say," she replied, irritated. "Anyway," she said, changing the tone of her voice. "What are you going to be for Halloween, Tea?" she asked curiously.  
  
Tea blushed again, feeling silly about her costume as they turned a corner and began to walk down a dark alley.  
  
"Er...well, I'm still thinking about it but...I had kind of wanted to be a dancer," she muttered quickly.  
  
Amber grinned.  
  
"Cool! I'm going to be a mermaid," she said with a smile.  
  
Tea smiled too.  
  
"That's interesting," she replied as they passed a few tipped-over garbage cans on the side of the brick walls of the alley.  
  
Amber nodded, squinting ahead. She thought she could see the outline of a person standing near the exit of the alley.  
  
"Hey, ladies," Came a smooth voice, causing both Amber and Tea to stop in their tracks as the voice echoed through the alley.   
  
Amber frowned as a teenage boy walked forward, a cigarette in one hand, and an annoying grin on his face. He had a red and black bandana tied over his head and was wearing a dark jacket.  
  
"Who're you?" Amber demanded, as Tea backed up a little behind her.  
  
"Why does that matter?" he chuckled, continuing to advance on the girls. "What are two lovely chicks like you doing out on such a cold night like tonight?"  
  
Amber frowned angrily. She hated being called a chick.  
  
"For one thing, I'm not a chick, and for another, it's none of your business," Amber snapped in reply.  
  
"Yeah," Tea replied, realizing that if they talked right, they'd be able to avoid an argument.  
  
I hope! Tea thought to herself, but not letting her slight fear show.  
  
"Oo," The boy replied in a teasing voice, smoke rising up from the cigarette. "Temper, my little chickadee, temper."  
  
Amber clenched her fists.  
  
"Hey, we told you we're not chicks, and definitely not yours," Tea said angrily. "Just move aside, and let us get where we want to go."  
  
The boy grinned and cracked his knuckles menacingly.  
  
"Sorry, ladies, but I can't do that," he replied, two other boys appearing from behind them. "Just hand over your purses and then you can go free."  
  
Tea looked around behind her, nervously.  
  
"What now?" she whispered frantically to Amber.  
  
Amber frowned, unzipping her backpack and pulling out two large items.  
  
"You've got your deck, right?" she hissed to Tea, passing one to her.  
  
Tea, shocked, looked down at the item. It was a duel disk. Tea swallowed, nodding and pulling her deck out of her pocket.  
  
"Look, GUYS," Amber said with a grin, pulling out her own deck and putting it in the card-holder. "You duel?"  
  
The boy with the cigarette stared at Amber for a moment, then smirked.  
  
"What, you're saying we'll play a game to decide what goes on here?" he taunted. "I mean, we can just as easily take what we want by force right now."  
  
Amber grinned mischievously.  
  
"Sure you can," she replied calmly. "But what kind of a player backs down from a challenge?"  
  
The boy studied her for a minute, and then smirked, pulling out a duel disk of his own from his black backpack on the ground.  
  
"Okay, fine then," he replied. "You two can both play against me, and the life points can be each of you 4000 and me 8000."  
  
Amber nodded.  
  
"Fine," she replied firmly, both she and Tea starting up their duel disks. "But I think you should start worrying. One of us was enough to take you down."  
  
Tea nodded in agreement.  
  
"So let's duel!" she declared, the two boys from behind them backing up a little to watch the show as the glittery hologram-projectors lit up the dark alley.  
  
The boy laughed.  
  
"Sure, CHICKS," he replied, picking five cards. "Just wait until the game is over."  
  
Amber gritted her teeth as she picked her cards.  
  
"YOU wait," she thought to herself, smiling slightly at her hand. "This is one duel we're NOT going to lose."  
  
************  
  
Duel time! ^_^  
  
"Yes sir-ee! ^^ Anyway, REVIEW!! 


	6. Chapter 6: Surprise Attack

Chapter 6: Surprise Attack  
  
Notes: Here comes Chapter 6! And Seto and Priest Seto are in it again. ^_^  
  
"And thanks a bunch for reviewing! Oh, and I'm calling Luster Dragon, Emerald Dragon as that was its original name, and I like it so much more. Thanks to Alan for some card stats." ^_^  
  
And in reply to the reviews, Lady of the Thread: Hm...You're right about Amber's new card. ^__^ And you're right about Seto dressing up as someone normal for Halloween. That's so like him. Maybe Mokuba will be able to talk him into dressing up. :P  
  
And yeah, Mai is a bit on the nosy side. ^_^ I probably would have made up some excuse and left too.  
  
  
  
"And before SK continues, here is Chapter 6. ^_~"  
  
***********  
  
Chapter 6: Surprise Attack  
  
"I'll go first!" Amber announced, picking a sixth card to start her turn. "Let's see..." she muttered, looking at her options. "I'll summon Red Archery Girl in attack mode and then play the magic card Legendary Ocean!"  
  
Amber put two cards down on her duel disk and a mermaid inside of a shell with a red bow in hand appeared, followed by a large wave of holographic water that covered the playing field.  
  
Red Archery Girl's attack and defense power increased to 1600/1700. Amber grinned as she played one more card face down on the field.  
  
"My turn's over," she said confidently as her favorite monster winked.  
  
The boy snorted.  
  
"A 1600 mermaid and you think you've won? Get real. Hurry up and move so I can show you two a REAL play," he demanded, pointing at Tea, who frowned.  
  
"My move!" Tea declared, picking her card and looking at her own hand. "Amber's the more strategic player, so maybe I should just let her deal with strategies, and I should focus on defense," she thought to herself.  
  
"I summon Spirit of the Harp (800/2000) in defense mode and play one card face down," Tea called out, setting her cards on the field, her fairy monster appearing beside Red Archery Girl in defense position.  
  
Tea narrowed her eyes.  
  
"My turn is over," she informed the boy, who picked his sixth card quickly.  
  
"Finally," he sighed in mock irritation. "Since we seem to be playing with girls today, I'll summon Gemini Elves (1900/900) in attack mode!"  
  
Two elves appeared on the field in attack mode, their eyes narrowed in vexation at Red Archery Girl and Spirit of the Harp. Tea grinned to herself as she looked down at her face down card.  
  
"I don't know what Amber is planning, but if he tries to attack her mermaid with those elves, I'll activate Mirror Force, and his monster will be destroyed instead," she thought happily to herself.  
  
The boy scanned Amber and Tea's fields, grinning.  
  
"Well, doesn't look like that mermaid will pose much of a threat to my elves, but just in case..." he muttered, putting down one of the cards from his hand. "I think I'll destroy your face down card with Mystical Space Typhoon," he declared, pointing at Tea, whose eyes widened.  
  
"My trap!" she thought nervously.  
  
A large wind tunnel appeared and made its way over to Tea's side of the field, destroying her Mirror Force.  
  
"No!" Tea cried as the tunnel disappeared.  
  
The boy smirked.  
  
"Good choice, I guess," he gloated, turning back to Red Archery Girl. "Now I'll have my elves destroy your mermaid! Attack!"  
  
Amber grinned.  
  
"I don't think so," she said as the elves lunged forward at Red Archery Girl. "Activate trap! Gravity Bind!"  
  
Suddenly, the entire field was covered in strange blue waves, causing the elves to stop their attack. Tea smiled.  
  
"All right!" she cried, remembering how that card works from a duel back on Madam Christina's island. "That card prevents all monsters of level 4 and higher from attacking!"  
  
The boy they were playing against frowned in irritation.  
  
"Drat, well, at least you can't attack either," he muttered, flinging his cigarette butt on the ground.  
  
"My turn again," Amber declared, smiling happily as she picked a magic card. "And I choose to power up Red Archery Girl with Malevolent Nuzzler, raising her attack power to 2300."  
  
A green glow appeared over Red Archery Girl, and died down as the attack stats were raised. The boy huffed.  
  
  
  
"Why power her up? Nobody can attack," he pointing out, gesturing toward the Gravity Bind card on the field.  
  
Amber grinned mischievously.  
  
"That's not what the card says," she said tauntingly. "It says all monsters of level 4 and higher cannot attack, but due to the effect of Legendary Ocean, any water-type monster's attack and defense are raised by 200 points AND their level is reduced 1 star."  
  
The boy's eyes widened.  
  
"So that means..." he muttered, looking at his elves.  
  
"Bingo. My four star mermaid is now a three star, and quite able to attack," Amber finished with a smirk. "Attack the elves!"  
  
The boy grimaced as his monster was destroyed and his life points fell to 7600.  
  
"Your move Tea," Amber prodded, and Tea picked her card eagerly.  
  
"His life points are wide-open now, and it's a perfect time for a direct attack!" she though excitedly to herself, holding up a card.  
  
"Okay! I sacrifice my Spirit of the Harp for Dark Magician Girl (2000/1700) in attack mode!" Tea called out, her fairy disappearing and the Dark Magician's apprentice appearing in her place.  
  
"Then I play Remove Trap, destroying Gravity Bind," she announced, the blue waves disappearing and her magician free. "Now attack, Dark Magician Girl!" Tea called, her magician decreasing their opponent's life points to a further 5600.  
  
"All right!" Amber declared, punching a fist into the air. "We are totally winning this!"  
  
Their opponent growled, picking his card.  
  
"Not for long," he replied, glaring at the two girls.  
  
**********  
  
Meanwhile, Seto was surfing websites in the dining room, Mokuba having gone upstairs to play video games in his bedroom. Priest Seto, having lost his interest in watching Mokuba play, floated downstairs and into the same room as Seto.  
  
He stared at his reincarnate. Since the attack from the man with the Vampire spirit, or Yami Taerro, Priest Seto had not mentioned anything having to do with magic or Millennium Items to Seto, although he'd been meaning to for a long time.  
  
The power to defeat Yami Taerro lay within the Millennium Rod, and somehow, he'd have to convince his reincarnate to use it in order to defeat the vampire once again.  
  
"Seto Kaiba," he said, floating up to him, however, Seto paid little attention.  
  
"What is it?" he asked, still staring at the computer screen.  
  
"I was curious if you've ever given much thought to the Millennium Items," Priest Seto said, looking at his reincarnate anxiously.  
  
Seto narrowed his eyes and turned to face the priest.  
  
"Much thought? In what way?" he asked skeptically.  
  
The priest merely shrugged and Seto sighed.  
  
"I don't care to think much about them," he replied.  
  
"Have you ever thought about using them?" Priest Seto inquired, knowing Seto, that this would be difficult.  
  
Seto narrowed his eyes in irritation.  
  
"No, I haven't," he replied. "And I don't intent to."  
  
Priest Seto sighed as Seto turned back to his searching. Figuring that now was probably not the best time to bug his reincarnate about the Millennium Rod, he leaned over his shoulder, and looked over at the bright and colorful screen that Seto was staring at.  
  
"What are you looking for?" Priest Seto inquired.  
  
Seto sighed.  
  
"Halloween Costume ideas," Seto replied reluctantly. "But so far, it seems like a vampire is the only idea I'm willingly to try."  
  
He sighed and rested his chin on his hand, glaring at the screen as Priest Seto grimaced. Vampire. Everything seemed to remind him of Yami Taerro these days.  
  
**********  
  
"My turn!" The boy in the alley declared, drawing a card angrily. "All right," he snapped, glaring at Amber and Tea. "You two girls have had your fun. Now it's time to get serious!"  
  
Amber narrowed her eyes skeptically.  
  
"I've been playing seriously this whole time," she said smoothly.  
  
The boy smirked, playing another card.  
  
"Well then it looks like you'll fall before my serious-playing," he taunted, summoning a monster. "I special summon the Rock Spirit by removing Gemini Elves from the graveyard. Then, I'll use him as the sacrifice to normal summon my Emerald Dragon (2400/1400) in attack mode."  
  
  
  
Amber gritted her teeth.  
  
"Drat it," she muttered as the huge pale-green dragon appeared in front of her, roaring.  
  
"Now attack the mermaid!" he yelled, and a bright green blast destroyed Red Archery Girl, letting Amber's life points fall to 3900.  
  
"Oh no!" Tea cried, looking at her magician-girl, who only had 2000 attack points.  
  
"I'll end my turn at that," The boy declared, smirk on his face and his friends chuckling from behind Amber and Tea.  
  
Amber gritted her teeth in anger as she picked her card and held it up so she could see it.  
  
"I am NOT losing this duel," she muttered, setting a monster down. "Witch of the Black Forest in defense mode!" she announced aloud. "And that's it for me!"  
  
The boy smirked as Tea picked her card. Amber, however, was quite content with her somewhat defensive move.  
  
"Hm, if he attacks my witch, then I can search my deck for any monster with 1500 of less defensive points, and that way, I can bring my secret weapon right to my hand," she thought gleefully, looking over at Tea, who looked conflicted with her card.  
  
Tea bit her lip as she read the effects of the magic card she was holding in her hand.  
  
"The Black Stone of the Superior," she whispered. "This can be used when Dark Magician Girl is on the field. It can call out her master, the Dark Magician! But I don't have a Dark Magician."  
  
"This card won't help me," she muttered, putting in the back of her hand, and picking up another card.  
  
"Creature Swap?" she muttered, reading its effects.  
  
She looked up at her Dark Magician Girl.  
  
"I'm sorry, Dark Magician Girl," she muttered to herself, playing the card. "But I activate Creature Swap!"  
  
The boy's eyes widened.  
  
"Oh no!" he cried, as his dragon and her magician girl swapped places. "That card switches control of one opposing monster and one of your own! In this case, she only has Dark Magician Girl and I only have Emerald Dragon!"  
  
Amber grinned.  
  
"So Emerald Dragon becomes hers!" she declared with a triumphant smile.  
  
Tea winked back at Amber.  
  
"Now Emerald Dragon!" Tea announced, pointing at the magician girl. "Attack the Dark Magician Girl!"  
  
The dragon blew an emerald-colored blast at the magician, destroying her, and reducing the boy's life points to a further 5200.  
  
"Your move!" Tea declared.  
  
The boy muttered something under his breath as he drew his next card.  
  
"Dangit, I pass," he muttered, putting his high-level monster in his hand in irritation.  
  
Amber smirked, picking her card. Her eyes lit up at the light from the duel disks reflected off the foil of her special new card.  
  
"All right! My secret weapon!" she thought to herself, looking up at the field.  
  
She narrowed her eyes and thought for a moment.  
  
"But I want to save it as a surprise for the party," she thought to herself, sticking it in her hand behind her other cards. "Besides, it's time for a mermaid victory."  
  
"I special summon Aqua Spirit (1600) in attack mode by removing Red Archery Girl from play," Amber called, putting her monster on the field, where it gained 200 attack points from the field. "Then I normal summon Cure Mermaid, who also gets a power-bonus from the field! (1700/1000 with bonus)"  
  
Their opponent cringed.  
  
"Too many monsters," he thought to himself, a bead of sweat dripping down his cheek. "I'll never survive the round!"  
  
Amber grinned again, flashing a thumbs-up at Tea.  
  
"And lastly, I flip summon Witch of the Black Forest!" she called, flipping over her defense monster. (1100/1200) "And have them all attack you directly, which reduces you to 600 life points!"  
  
Tea, realizing it was her turn, pointing at the opponent.  
  
"Emerald Dragon! Wipe out the rest of his life points now!" she called, and the green dragon blasted away the remainder of the boy's life points, and the force of the impact sending him to his knees.  
  
Amber stepped forward as the holograms disappeared, pulling her deck out of the disk.  
  
"We'll be leaving now," she said, stepping around him, but no sooner had she passed him did he reach out and grasp her arm.  
  
"Hey!" she gasped, turning around sharply. "Back off!"  
  
He grinned evilly.  
  
"You're not getting away that easily," he muttered, laughing slightly.  
  
"Yes we are!" Came Tea's voice, and the boy turned around just in time for her to smack his face with her bag, causing him to slack on his grip.  
  
Amber pulled away, and she and Tea ran past, as fast as they could.  
  
"Get back here!" The boy yelled, rubbing his eyes and standing up, shakily.  
  
Amber grabbed Tea's hand and the two ran around the corner, and fortunately into a crowded sidewalk.  
  
"Let's head for Duke's, it's closer!" Amber called as they ran across the street.  
  
Tea nodded shakily.  
  
"Anywhere is fine!" she yelled in reply. "Just not back there!"  
  
Amber laughed as they continued to run.  
  
"Let's just hope Mai doesn't take that back-alley!"  
  
*********  
  
End of Chapter 6  
  
Review! Review!  
  
"*blink blink* I LOST TO THAT STUPID EMERALD DRAGON?!?! HOW COULD YOU SK!?!?!?"  
  
^^;;; To be honest, I didn't mean to do it on purpose. It just ended up that way.  
  
";;; Review anyway! And next chapter up soon. If I don't kill SK before then, that is. : )" 


	7. Chapter 7: Anubis Strikes!

Chapter 7: Anubis Strikes!  
  
Notes: Thanks for the reviews everyone. ^_^ And in answer to some of them, Im Evil, well, it depends. If you want to be Mokuba, I think you should be. ^^ Maybe you can talk some sense into your brother.  
  
Lady of the Thread: _ I hate typos.   
  
"What a GREAT reply. :P"  
  
Alan: Luster, yeah. *shrug* Don't know why they thought that fit better than Emerald.  
  
"And I'll beat that stupid thing next time!" :o  
  
And yep, Amber and Tea sure showed that dude. ^_^  
  
"-_-; Yeah, yeah, let's just get on with Chapter 7."  
  
*********  
  
Chapter 7: Anubis Strikes!  
  
It grew dark early that evening in Domino, as it was getting on toward winter, after all. Yugi, however, was too busy having fun in the living room of his house to notice.  
  
He and Joey, and Tristan and Bakura, were taking turns dueling each other on the floor, having set up the mats instead of using their duel disks. (Well, Tristan, at least, was in favor of this suggestion as he didn't have a duel disk to begin with.)  
  
So far, Yugi had defeated Bakura and Tristan once each, and Joey three times. Joey kept insisting on a rematch every time he had lost, and now he and Yugi were in the middle of their forth game.  
  
"Just give up already, Joey," Tristan muttered, rubbing his eyes wearily. "You aren't going to beat Yugi, or at least not tonight, so quit trying."  
  
  
  
Yugi suppressed a giggle.  
  
"Well, you have to keep trying, Tristan," he corrected with a smile. "That's the way of a true duelist."  
  
Joey smirked, taking the opportunity to insult his friend.  
  
"Which, of course, Tristan wouldn't know anything about," he retorted, glaring at Tristan as he played another card on the field. "So he ought to quit talking and start dueling."  
  
Tristan scowled and crossed his arms as he turned back to Bakura. He raised his eyebrows as he noticed that Bakura was picking up the dueling field and reshuffling his cards.  
  
"Hey! What are you putting everything away for?" Tristan asked, looking down at his hand.  
  
Bakura raised one eyebrow.  
  
"You lost five minutes ago, Tristan," he reminded him in his innocent voice.  
  
Joey snorted as Tristan narrowed his eyes.  
  
"Oh yeah," he muttered in irritation, shoving his own deck in his pocket and crossing his arms. "May as well just watch you two then."  
  
As Joey contemplated a move, Yugi glanced over at the clock on the wall which was softly ticking in the now silent room. It was 6:24.  
  
Yugi raised his eyebrows in concern.  
  
"Guys, we left the girls at the mall nearly two hours ago," he pointing out, jerking his head toward the clock. "And they said they'd come over right afterward. What do you think is taking them so long?"  
  
Yami appeared in room in a spiritual form, watching Yugi and the others.  
  
"I don't know, Yugi," Yami replied, although Yugi had not directed the question toward him.  
  
Joey shrugged, unconcerned.  
  
"Aa, I'm sure they're just shopping for new pants with Mai or something," he replied with a wave of his hand. "You know girls and shopping."  
  
"What about girls and shopping?" Came a sharp and familiar voice from the doorway.  
  
Everyone glanced up to see Mai standing in the door, her lips pursed in irritation. Joey sweat-dropped, embarrassed.  
  
  
  
"Oh, nothing," he muttered, glancing down quickly at his cards and pretending to concentrate.  
  
Yugi looked around behind Mai, expecting to see Amber, or at least Tea with her, but neither of the two were anywhere in sight.  
  
"Mai," he asked worriedly. "Where are Amber and Tea?"  
  
Mai raised an eyebrow, his face fading from irritation to confusion.  
  
"I don't know," she replied. "They ran out of the mall before I did, so I thought they'd have come here."  
  
Yami raised both eyebrows.  
  
"We haven't seen them since we were at the mall," Yugi replied, standing up quickly.  
  
Mai sighed and sunk down in a soft chair, dropping her purse and her bags on the floor beside her.  
  
"Maybe they went over to Duke's," she suggested, closing her eyes.  
  
Yugi nodded hopefully.  
  
"Yeah," he replied, running over to and picking up the phone. "I'll call over and see."  
  
Please be okay, he thought to himself as he dialed the number.  
  
*********  
  
Anubis walked into another room in his temple, where a large, blackish green puddle quivered in the center. Lining the carved-in shelves on the stone walls were dozens and dozens of potions and powders, all different colors and shades.  
  
Carefully, he picked out a glittery pink powder, and uncorked the bottle. Taking a small pinch, he carried it over to the green puddle, and held his hand over it carefully.  
  
Taking a deep breath, he dropped the pinch in the pool, where the puddle foamed and gurgled noisily, and a green misty substance flew out of Anubis, causing him to gasp slightly.  
  
Two blackish mists formed on the other side of the puddle as Anubis took a deep breath and looked up. To his delight, two warriors with jackal heads, just as he had, were standing on the other side of the puddle, waiting for a command.  
  
He grinned, standing up straight again.  
  
"It worked," he whispered to himself, looking down at the powder as he re-shelved it. "In order to defeat Yugi and Seto, I need assistance, which I will not find from my fellow gods and goddesses. Instead, I wish to reawaken my loyal army, which has been lying under the sands of Egypt for many years now."  
  
He turned back to his warriors.  
  
"But now I have found the correct mixture to bring them back to life," he said gleefully. "By sacrificing a little bit of my own power, I can bring to life my army."  
  
"My true objective is to resurrect my entire army, but for that, I need more power," he muttered, gazing over at his two warriors with his hard, white eyes. "But these two are all I need to finish off two mortals. Go now, my warriors. Destroy Yugi Motou and Seto Kaiba!"  
  
The two warriors raised their ax-like weapons and held them over their heads, nodding. Then as soon as they nodded, they disappeared in a flash of blue light.  
  
*********  
  
Meanwhile, Seto sighed and leaned back in the dining room chair he was sitting in, closing his eyes tiredly. It had been a long day.  
  
"Aren't you going to go up to your room?" Priest Seto asked, floating around in the air above him. "I doubt that chair is very comfortable."  
  
Seto squinted up at the priest.  
  
"When did the room get so bright?" he wondered to himself, realizing he must have drifted off.   
  
"Maybe," he muttered, not wanting to admit that his bed would be a lot more comfortable than the chair.  
  
Suddenly, there was a crash from what sounded like the kitchen, that sent Seto leaping up from the chair, now wide-awake. Priest Seto narrowed his eyes in confusion.  
  
"What was that?" he muttered to Seto, who shook his head.  
  
"I don't know..." Seto muttered, walking toward the kitchen. "But there's only one way to find out."  
  
Seto pushed open the door to the kitchen and looked inside. The lights were off, so he brushed his hand against the wall, searching for the switch. He finally found it and flicked it up, illuminating the room.  
  
A small cabinet had fallen over, the contents spilled out on the floor. Seto narrowed his eyes in irritation.  
  
"What happened here?" he asked, as Priest Seto floated around the stove and peered around a corner.  
  
He gasped, causing Seto to look up.  
  
"It can't be!" he cried as another crashing sound rang through the kitchen.  
  
Seto raised an eyebrow and hurried over to where Priest Seto was.  
  
"What?" he asked, following his gaze to a huge jackal-headed man, slashing madly as he ran forward at Seto.  
  
Seto leapt out of the way, shocked.  
  
"What is that thing?" he yelled at Priest Seto, who appeared to have recognized the creature.  
  
Priest Seto swallowed.  
  
"A jackal-warrior," he replied. "Part of Anubis's jackal army, but..."  
  
"But what?" Seto demanded, dodging the heavy blade of the ax-like sword the monster wielded.  
  
Priest Seto looked seriously over at Seto.  
  
"The army of Anubis has been lying under the sands of Egypt for as long as I can remember," he replied. "They were banished there by the other gods of Eygpt. How did they reawaken?"  
  
He narrowed his eyes, thinking hard.  
  
***********  
  
Amber flung open the door to the Black Crown, Duke's game shop, and let it swing shut behind her as she and Tea staggered in, sweating and catching their breath.  
  
Duke, who had been sitting in a sofa reading a magazine looked up at them, raising an eyebrow.  
  
"What's up?" he asked, flapping the magazine shut and looking over at the girls curiously.  
  
Amber sighed, dropped her backpack on the floor with a thud and sank down in the couch across from Duke.  
  
"What's up is we leave the mall to run into a few jerks, end up double dueling them, and then have to run for our lives ANYWAY," Amber muttered in irritation, choosing to omit mentioning Mai's reasons for them staying.  
  
Tea nodded in agreement, slumping down beside Amber on the sofa.  
  
"Yeah...at least we won the duel though," she replied with a smile, trying to look on the bright side.  
  
Duke's eyes were wide.  
  
"Er...okay, sounds like you two did a lot," he remarked as he stood up. "I guess you probably want to go home, right Tea?" he asked, looking over at her.  
  
Tea nodded wearily.  
  
"Yeah, but we were afraid to split up with those wackos out on the street," she explained. "So we just came here."  
  
Duke walked over to the desk and reached out to pick up the phone.  
  
"No problem, I'll call a cab," he said, but no sooner had he touched the receiver did the phone ring anyway.  
  
Duke jumped, startled for a second, then picked up the receiver and answered it.  
  
"Hello? Black Crown," he said in a business-like voice. "Oh Yugi!" he cried, dropping the professional tone. "Yeah, Tea's here."  
  
Tea blushed slightly. Yugi had been worried about her?  
  
Duke paused for a moment as he listened to the others in the background of Yugi's house.  
  
"You lose again!" Joey yelled, and there was a shuffle of cards.  
  
"Aw, come on Joey, no one likes a cocky winner," Tristan grumbled, when suddenly, there was a crash of some sort in the background.  
  
Duke narrowed his eyes as someone, (sounded very much like Joey) yelled and there was an inhuman shriek of some sort.  
  
"Yugi? Are you guys okay?" he asked, his heart starting to beat faster.  
  
What was going on? He wondered.  
  
There was no reply, however. Instead, there was another crash, someone yelling something that sounded like, "Anubis!" and then the phone went dead.  
  
"Yugi!" Duke cried, as the dial tone sounded through the receiver.  
  
Slowly, he hung up the phone and turned back to Tea and Amber, both of whom were staring at Duke, wide-eyed.  
  
"What's going on?!" Amber demanded, standing up quickly.  
  
Duke shrugged, nervously.  
  
"I don't know. It sounded like someone broke into the place or something," he replied.  
  
Tea gave a startled gasp.  
  
"We should call the police or something if they're in trouble!" she cried, pointing back toward the phone.  
  
Duke bit his lip and hurried back over to the phone.  
  
"Yeah..." he muttered, punching in a number and hoping that nothing bad was happening to his friends.  
  
**********  
  
End of Chapter Seven!  
  
Review please!  
  
"Yeah! Please do. ^_^" 


	8. Chapter 8: The Mystery

Chapter 8: The Mystery  
  
Notes: Here comes Chapter 8 for you all!  
  
"And thanks so much for reviewing the last chapter everyone! Enjoy!"  
  
And in reply to a few reviewers, Amber doesn't like shopping at all, so naturally she'd be happier on the dueling field. And her rudeness to Mai? Well, to me, she was acting similar to Tea in Duelist Kingdom.  
  
Seto will be in it more, I promise, as well the other characters. ^^ And as for crushes and dating and stuff, the only two that are actually "together" I guess you could say are Amber and Duke. ^_^  
  
And in one of the Duel World/ Virtual Reality Word episodes, Yugi and Joey did a two on one, and that's what I was basing it on. This one dude did a 3 on 1 like that. X_X   
  
*********  
  
Chapter 8: The Mystery  
  
Bastet's ears flattened as a strange feeling came over her body. Something had definitely just happened, she thought to herself, as she looked around the temple.  
  
She closed her eyes in meditation, attempting to contact Thoth through the mental link, but she could not trace him.  
  
  
  
"Impossible!" she hissed to herself, her yellow eyes snapping open once more. "There is no way that I could not be able to contact Thoth unless he were dead, which is impossible as well."  
  
She paced the floor.  
  
"Unless..." she muttered. "Unless a spell has been cast on him..."  
  
She looked up, and bounded toward the entrance of the stone temple.  
  
"Anubis must have him," she thought to herself, gazing out into the night air of the desert. "He must be holding him captive somewhere..."  
  
She closed her eyes again, meditating, and picked up on another strange scent.  
  
"Jackal-warriors?" she asked aloud, opening her eyes once more. "But they were banished...it couldn't be..."  
  
  
  
The jackal-army of Anubis had been a means for the gods to settle things in the mortal world long ago. However, Anubis used his army against the gods at one point in an attempt to overthrow them and become the ruler of Egypt.  
  
  
  
This, to, was long ago, when the two silver coins of the gods were still being searched for. Ever since, Osiris and Ra used their magic to banish the army to the sands of Egypt, never to be reawakened.  
  
"Has Anubis come up with a way to free his army once again?" Bastet asked herself, beginning to grow nervous.  
  
She looked up at the white, full moon as she contemplated on the matter. The stars were not out that night, only the moon.  
  
"If this is the case, I must contact the mortals," she thought to herself, her silver collar lighting up and glowing brightly in the night air.  
  
**********  
  
Ishizu Ishtar folded her hands and rested her chin on them as she faced her younger brother, Malik, and their close friend Lishido at the dinner table as darkness fell on the town outside their house.  
  
"Neesan?" Malik asked, looking curiously over at his sister. "Is something on your mind?"  
  
Ishizu blinked and looked kindly over at her brother.  
  
"Well," she said slowly. "Actually, I have made a decision about something."  
  
Lishido and Malik exchanged glances and looked up at Ishizu expectantly, wondering what she could have decided about.  
  
"Yes?" Lishido inquired.  
  
"I have decided to return to Domino city for a while," she informed them, her blue eyes serious.  
  
Malik's eyebrows went up.  
  
"What for, neesan?" he asked, cocking his head.  
  
Ishizu sighed and closed her eyes.  
  
"I have continually been sensing strange things...related to Domino and the Millennium Items," she said slowly, trying to sharpen the images in her mind. "I sense that danger is approaching there, and that I should go back."  
  
Lishido looked over at Malik, who nodded.  
  
"Miss Ishizu, if you wish to go to Domino, Malik and I will gladly join you," he said.  
  
Ishizu smiled.  
  
"That is kind of you, but that is not necessary. You both have things to do here in Egypt, and besides," she said, looking her brother in the eye. "I sense danger here as well, and I would like to ask you two to keep watch on things while I am away."  
  
Malik nodded determinedly.  
  
"Of course, neesan," Malik said in a confident voice. "You don't have to worry."  
  
Lishido also nodded.  
  
"Yes, and do be careful, Miss Ishizu," he warned.  
  
Ishizu smiled.  
  
"I will."  
  
**********  
  
  
  
"What the heck is that?" Joey cried as he, Yugi, Tristan, Mai, and Bakura backed away from a large, jackal-headed man carrying an ax-like weapon in his clawed hands.  
  
The jackal-warrior growled in anger, swinging his blade furiously, slicing a lamp into two pieces, both of which fell to the floor, the broken bulb parts sizzling.  
  
Tristan cringed.  
  
"I don't know. But he kinda reminds me of an Egyptian god..." he muttered, as the jackal-man approached.  
  
Yugi gulped and nodded.  
  
"Yeah, Anubis!" he cried, pointing at the jackal.  
  
Yami shook his head, appearing in spirit form.  
  
"That isn't Anubis, aibou," he corrected Yugi, gesturing towards the approaching enemy. "Anubis has more decoration on himself than this one. This, this is merely a warrior of his."  
  
Bakura gasped.  
  
"It's a warrior of Anubis's army!" he cried, as if reading Yami's thoughts.  
  
Joey cracked his knuckles.  
  
"Anubis's army, huh? Well let's bring it on, jackal-head!" he yelled cockily.  
  
Mai sweat-dropped and put her hand to her forehead.  
  
"Give me a break, Joey," she muttered as he grabbed a baseball bat off of the floor.  
  
"Watch and learn!" he yelled, running forward with the bat posed to strike.  
  
"Joey don't!" Yugi yelled, his eyes bulging as his friend ran forward at the jackal-headed warrior.  
  
Joey didn't listen, however. He hurried forward and as the warrior attempted to life his blade, Joey swung the bat full force at the warrior's neckline, causing his head to become severed from his body.  
  
There was a horrible scream and shriek and then the entire body and head turned to dust and blasted out the open window in a sort of sandstorm-like motion.  
  
Stunned, everyone stood quite still for a moment, not moving. It was Joey who broke the silence by yelling out in victory.  
  
"All right!" he cheered, dropping the bat with a thud to the floor. "Did you see that?!" he asked the others, excitedly.  
  
Mai was pale and merely blinked at Joey, as did Bakura. Tristan clapped weakly.  
  
"Go, Joey," he muttered.  
  
Yami snapped his spiritual fingers.  
  
"Cutting off their heads," he remarked to Yugi. "That's the only way to kill the warriors."  
  
Yugi, however, walked forward toward Joey.  
  
"W...wow Joey, that was pretty cool," he commented, still slightly shocked by the whole attack himself.  
  
Yami, however, was lost in thought as Joey continued to talk to the others about the defeat of the intruder.  
  
"Where did that jackal-headed warrior come from?" he wondered to himself. "And who sent it? Also..."  
  
His eyes trailed over to Bakura, who was standing by Tristan, smiling softly, but not speaking.  
  
"How did Bakura know about the army of Anubis?" he wondered, eyeing the white-haired boy suspiciously.  
  
Something was definitely up with Bakura, he thought, and I'll bet it all starts with the Millennium Ring.  
  
**********  
  
Seto dodged another heavy blow that cracked the fallen wooden cabinet in half, spilling the remainder of its contents to floor. Seto skid on the hard floor and over to another counter.  
  
"Its head!" Priest Seto shouted down at him. "Cutting off its head will destroy it!"  
  
Seto narrowed his eyes in frustration.  
  
"MOST things die when you cut off its head," he retorted, looking around for something to use.  
  
Priest Seto growled in frustration.  
  
"No, the ONLY way to kill it is to cut off its head!" he yelled back, more specifically this time.  
  
Seto spotted a large kitchen knife on the counter, and hurriedly snatched it up.  
  
"All right then," he declared, as the warrior ran forward, blade poised and ready for attack. "Take this!" he yelled, flinging the knife forward, slicing neatly through the Anubis-warrior's head.  
  
There was a blast of wind and the warrior's body and head both turned into sand and was blasted away by the strong current. As the wind died down, Seto sighed with relief and looked around his kitchen.  
  
It looked as though a couple of dinosaurs had been let loose inside, as things were tipped over and broken and bits and pieces littered the entire floor.  
  
Sighing, Seto's shoulders slumped.  
  
"What WAS that thing?" he demanded of Priest Seto, who had floated down to the floor.  
  
Looking straight into his reincarnate's eyes, Priest Seto realized they were about the same height.  
  
"That was a warrior of the army of Anubis," he explained as Seto trudged into the dining room. "They were banished long ago to the sands of Egypt, which explains why they turned into sand when you destroyed him, but how did they manage to return?"  
  
Seto narrowed his eyes angrily as he turned off the lights of the dining room and another downstairs rooms. He'd leave the kitchen mess for tomorrow.  
  
"That irritating jackal-headed god has probably come up with some way to revive him," Seto guessed, as he walked up the stairs to his room.  
  
Priest Seto nodded, thinking to himself.  
  
"Yes..." he muttered, stopping on the steps for a moment.  
  
Seto did not wait for him, but instead continued on upstairs, leaving to the priest to be emerged in darkness on the staircase.  
  
"But why?" he pondered, resting his chin in the palm of his spiritual hand. "Why would he come after us?"  
  
"Priest..."  
  
Priest Seto's ears perked up, and his closed his eyes to concentrate on the voice he knew well.  
  
"Bastet," he replied, recognizing the cat-goddess's voice. "What is it now?"  
  
"Priest," she said, knowing that since Priest Seto was her "watch-person" in Domino, he would know of any disturbances. "Have you felt any strange presences."  
  
Priest Seto narrowed his eyes.  
  
"If you consider a warrior of Anubis in the kitchen of my reincarnate strange," he replied.  
  
"An Anubis-warrior?!" The goddess gasped. "So I WAS sensing them..."  
  
Priest Seto thought for a moment then spoke to Bastet again through the mental connection.  
  
"Bastet, what is happening here?" he inquired, hoping to get some answers.  
  
There was a mental sigh.  
  
"It is Anubis," she muttered. "He has gone away from the temple, and first Thoth disappears, and now the presence of Anubis warriors. He is reviving them somehow..."  
  
Priest Seto narrowed his eyes.  
  
"He is after us for revenge, is he not?" he inquired.  
  
"That is what I believe," Bastet replied, her ears twitching as she spoke.  
  
She was out in the middle of the desert, and a sharp current of wind blew by in the night air, ruffling her black fur.  
  
"Priest, be on your guard," Bastet warned, narrowing her eyes. "Anubis will send more of his army after you, your reincarnate, and the other Millennium Item owners that were involved in his defeat. You must inform the Pharaoh."  
  
Priest Seto nodded.  
  
"I will," he promised.  
  
"I will be coming to Domino shortly," she continued. "But first, I must find Thoth."  
  
Priest Seto nodded again.  
  
"All right," he replied determinedly.  
  
The mental connection cut off, leaving Priest Seto now alone in the silence of the hallway.  
  
So Anubis was back, and a whole army was going to revive soon. Added to that was the threat of Yami Taerro and possibly even Bakura.  
  
Priest Seto sighed and shook his head.  
  
"So many evils," he muttered to himself as he floated upstairs. "How will we defeat them all?"  
  
**********  
  
End of Chapter 8  
  
Review! Review!  
  
"Please do! And next chapter up soon!" ^_^ 


	9. Chapter 9: Preparation

Chapter 9: Preparation  
  
Notes: Yada, yada, here's Chapter 9!  
  
"Oh, and thanks for reviewing everyone!" ^_^ I'm glad you guys like my story so much. ^____^  
  
**********  
  
Chapter 9: Preparation  
  
It was quite late that evening when everything was sorted out. The police arrived at the Game Shop moments after the Anubis-warrior had been defeated, leaving Yugi and the others owing the officers an explanation of why no one was breaking into their house.  
  
"Er...it was a false alarm," Yugi muttered embarrassedly, his cheeks very red. "When...Mai came in we thought that it was an intruder because we weren't expecting here."  
  
The police had bought the story and left, though they warned the gang not to call the police unless they were sure someone was trying to break into the house.  
  
"Whew," Joey muttered, flopping down on the couch. "Man, that was close," he muttered, wiping his forehead off to emphasize. "Who called the cops over anyway?"  
  
Tristan shrugged.  
  
"Maybe Duke got worried when I hung up like that," Yugi pointed out, too worked-up to sit down.  
  
Bakura checked the clock on the wall and yawned.  
  
"Well, it's getting late," he informed the others, walking toward the door. "I think I'll head home now."  
  
Mai stood up and brushed the wrinkles out of her skirt.  
  
"Yeah, me too," she muttered, following Bakura out the door.  
  
Silence fell over the room as Joey glanced over at Tristan, and then at Yugi, who was staring silently at the ground. Yami, invisible to both boys, was sitting over on the mantle-piece above the fireplace.  
  
"You okay, Yug?" Joey asked, nudging his friend gently.  
  
Yugi looked up, embarrassed slightly.  
  
"Yeah, I'm fine," he assured his friends. "You guys probably want to go home too. It is late."  
  
Joey grinned.  
  
"Sure Yug, thanks for having us over," he said casually as he and Tristan walked across the room.  
  
"See you at school on Monday," Tristan waved, as Joey shut the door behind them, leaving Yami and Yugi in silence.  
  
For a moment, neither said a thing, but Yugi then broke the silence with a question.  
  
"Yami? Why do you think those jackal-things attacked us?" he asked, his eyebrows narrowed in worry.  
  
Yami let out a sigh and faced his spiritual partner.  
  
"I don't know, Yugi," he replied sadly. "I wish I did. But perhaps it has something to do with the grudge Anubis may be holding against us from when we prevented him from controlling all of Egypt."  
  
Yugi nodded solemnly.  
  
"Yeah..." he muttered, sighing. "I just wish I knew more."  
  
Yami nodded in agreement.  
  
"So do I, Yugi," he replied.  
  
*********  
  
In a deserted area not far from Domino, Madam Christina was sitting in the parlor of her large mansion as a slight drizzle fell outside the windows, giving the room a cozy feeling.  
  
Madam Christina was a somewhat eccentric woman who owned many pieces of ancient pottery and art. She had always loved antiques, and had been the owner of a strange medallion given to her by her brother, Shadi, until very recently when Yami Taerro had stolen it.  
  
Now, she was enjoying the evening talking to Shadi, who had come for a visit a few weeks ago.  
  
"Have you seen the statue of the cat I have in the dining room yet?" she inquired.   
  
Antiques were nearly always the stem of her conversations, even with her younger brother.  
  
Shadi looked up, his train of thought having been interrupted by the question.  
  
"Oh, yes, it was very nice looking," he replied solemnly.  
  
Madam Christina could sense that something was on her brother's mind. She put her teacup down on the table and looked over at her brother.  
  
"What's wrong, Shadi?" she asked gently. "What's on your mind?"  
  
Shadi smiled a very faint smile.  
  
"Sometimes I think you know me better than I do," he replied. "But it is the medallion. I have not been able to trace it, nor the new possessor. It was not any of the criminal organization that stole it, and Yugi seems to believe it was one of his friends that stole it."  
  
Madam Christina looked worriedly at the ground.  
  
"I don't believe one of the children would have done that," she replied firmly.  
  
Shadi shook his head.  
  
"Neither do I. Not intentionally, at least. But I do believe that the boy name Taerro is possessed by an ancient spirit," he said.  
  
Suddenly, Shadi stood up, looking quite worried about something, causing Madam Christina to look up at him, raising an eyebrow.  
  
"Shadi?" she inquired.  
  
The Egyptian turned to face his sister.  
  
"I am sorry, Christina, but I have felt a disturbance in Egypt," he informed her, looking down into her eyes. "I must return."  
  
She smiled sadly.  
  
"I knew you would have to return eventually, Shadi," she replied, standing up as well. "It was nice to see you again, but I know we have our own duties, and yours lie in Egypt."  
  
He nodded solemnly.  
  
"Yes," he agreed. "I will return someday soon, however," he promised as he picked up a book from the table.  
  
She nodded.  
  
"I look forward to that day," she replied. "Take care now."  
  
**********  
  
Deep in the dark caverns of Anubis's temple, the jackal-headed god was pouring over an ancient scroll, reading it for sources of information, something, ANYTHING that would give him a clue on what could be used for power instead of his own energy in the reviving of his army.  
  
"Hm..." he muttered, coming across a strange picture that was described in the hieroglyphs below it. "Certain objects have powers that are strong enough to serve my purpose, but that was ages and ages ago."  
  
He let go of the bottom half of the scroll, letting the whole thing roll back up into a cylinder and slamming it back down on the table.  
  
"Now...the ancient artifacts may have been transferred to several of many places," he grumbled to himself, sitting down on a stone chair that was in the corner of the room. "And I have little time..."  
  
Suddenly, he sensed something strange. He bolted upright, clenching his fists in anger as he realized what the strange sense was.  
  
"Defeat..." he growled, his claws digging into the palms of his hands. "My first warriors were defeated by those mere mortals and spirits..."  
  
He narrowed his eyes in anger.  
  
*********  
  
Monday afternoon, everyone, with the obvious exception of Seto and Mokuba, were over at Duke's house, setting things up in the backyard and creating decorations for the party that would be held on Halloween, which was that Friday.  
  
Duke had apologized for calling the police and causing such a fuss, but Yugi and the others filled he, Tea, and Amber in on what had happened with the Anubis-warrior, making them all, especially Tea, nervous.  
  
But right then, Yugi, Duke, and Bakura were each carving a pumpkin on the front steps, having spread out several layers of newspaper first, so not to make the front of the house look scary in an unattractive way, with pumpkin pulp all over the steps.  
  
Amber, Mai, and Tea were in the kitchen, baking Halloween cookies, some of which were going to be for the school party that Friday, and the others for Duke's tournament-party.  
  
Outside, Tristan and Joey were busy trying to set up Tristan's haunted house, however they had run into a few problems. The two had wanted to pin dark sheets up to clotheslines, which they were going to connect the trees with.  
  
He and Joey had spent nearly half an hour pounding small nails and screws deep enough into the trees to that the clotheslines didn't pull them out when the sheets were hung.  
  
"Man," Joey muttered, waving his hands around in annoyance. "I've hammered my index finger three times, and my hands are all covered in sap."  
  
He grimaced, trying to wipe them off on his pants. Tristan sighed, tying a knot in the last line.  
  
"Okay, that's done with. Now let's try to hang the sheets up on the lines," he muttered, going over to the old laundry basket his mother had let him borrow.  
  
He'd only managed to get his mom and dad to let him borrow old sheets with holes, as they didn't trust that a new sheet would come back without a few rips and tears, so he only had three, two of which were white.  
  
"Joey, did you get any sheets from your folks?" he asked, leaning over his shoulder to view his friend.  
  
Joey walked over to his basket and pulled out two sheets.  
  
"Er...Serenity managed to get one from mom, but I could only find one beat-up one around the house at my place," he sighed, pulling them out and holding them up.  
  
Tristan groaned.  
  
Not only did they not have enough sheets, four of them were white.  
  
"Okay, let's see how much they cover, and if we don't have enough, we can ask Yugi and the others for some," he muttered, flopping out his dark sheet and pinning it to one of the lines so that it hung just a few inches off the ground.  
  
After the two had managed to hang them all up, they realized they'd not even covered half of their "haunted house" area with sheets.  
  
"Uh...Tristan?" Joey asked, scratching his head. "Something tells me this is going to be harder than I thought."  
  
*********  
  
Inside, Amber was pouring a cup of milk into a flour mixture on the counter, while Tea was searching around for a hot-pad, while the buzzer signaling the batch in the oven was done continually rang.  
  
Mai was reading a recipe for a haunted house cake, while Tea squeezed by her, frantically searching.  
  
"Has anyone seen even one hot-pad?" she asked nervously, picking up Mai's cookbook, checking to see if it was underneath, to no avail.  
  
  
  
Mai took her cookbook from Tea who continued her search.  
  
"Sorry hon," she replied with a shrug. "I can't remember the last time I saw one lying around here."  
  
Amber bit her lip as she over-poured the milk in the measuring cup and was trying to dump out just the right amount.  
  
"I think there's some in the cupboard on the far right," she replied, as a burning smell entered the kitchen.  
  
Mai sniffed the air and scrunched up her nose as Tea flung open the cabinet and pulled out a hot-pad.  
  
"I hate to say it hon, but I our cookies are burning," she said, heaving a sigh. "All that work for nothing."  
  
As Tea opened the oven, Amber suddenly gasped.  
  
"No, wait!" she cried, but the oven was already opened, and a cloud of smoke was rising out from it.  
  
Suddenly, a loud and obnoxious beep filled the entire house, causing Tea to jump and Mai to cover her ears.  
  
"What is that?!" Mai yelled as Amber grabbed a dish-towel off of the counter and began waving the ceiling up at a white object that was clinging there.  
  
"Overactive smoke-alarm!" she yelled back as the buzz continued. "Open a window!"  
  
Mai obeyed as Tea set the batch of slightly burnt cookies on the stovetop. A moment later, the buzz stopped, and Amber sighed, rubbing her arm from all the waving.  
  
"My goodness, that thing is loud!" Tea sighed, letting out a breath.  
  
Mai smiled playfully.  
  
"Well, if your house were on fire, at least you and Duke would be sure to wake up," she joked, going back to the cookbook.  
  
Amber laughed despite herself.  
  
"Yeah," she agreed.  
  
**********  
  
Outside, Duke and the others were busy pulling seeds and pumpkin gunk out of their pumpkins. Only Yugi was on to the carving part yet. He was having his pumpkin smile a toothy grin.  
  
"Looking good," Duke commented, although he looked disgusted as he reached his hand back into the pumpkin. "The only thing I hate about carving pumpkins is the gunk and seed-removal part. Everything else is pretty good."  
  
Bakura nodded, looking equally disgusted as he shoved a mass of gunk and seeds over to the edge of the newspaper.  
  
"I agree," he replied. "But at least you get a scary-looking decoration out of it."  
  
"Though I can think of scarier things," Yami Bakura, who was still in control of Bakura's body, thought to himself, though he didn't dare say it out-loud, for fear of blowing his cover.  
  
Duke nodded, pulling the last bit out of his pumpkin.  
  
"Yep," he agreed merrily. "You guys excited about the school Halloween party? It's being held at a roller rink."  
  
Yugi grinned, suddenly remembering the field trip and class party.  
  
"Yeah!" he agreed, smiling at his two friends. "That'll be a ton of fun! Although, your party is going to a lot more fun."  
  
Duke grinned.  
  
"I hope so," he replied, picking up a pumpkin-carving tool.  
  
Yami, in spirit form, was watching from a distance. It was so nice to see Yugi happy with his friends, and not thinking about the Anubis-warrior attack that had occurred during the previous night.  
  
Yami narrowed his eyes.  
  
"But someone must take action," he muttered to himself, turning away from the Black Crown and looking down the street. "I must find out why and how those Anubis-warriors visited us last night."  
  
*********  
  
End of Chapter 9  
  
Review! Review!  
  
"Yes, and thank you!" ^_~ 


	10. Chapter 10: Jumble and Rumble

Chapter 10: Jumble and Rumble  
  
Notes: ^_^ That's right, it's chapter 10!  
  
"Oh yeah! And thanks for reviewing everyone! ^^"  
  
And I'm looking for a good place for Taerro to come back in, don't worry. ^^ He'll probably reappear sometime during the story.  
  
********  
  
Chapter 10: Jumble and Rumble  
  
Late that evening, after the sun had started to set outside, Yugi and the others decided to get home for the evening, and continue their preparations the next day.  
  
As Tristan lugged his laundry basket out the door, Duke shut it behind him, sighing tiredly. He, Yugi, and Bakura had each finished their pumpkins, and the three finished works were sitting on the front steps outside.  
  
Inside, the aroma of burnt cookies still hung faintly in the air as Duke could hear Amber in the kitchen, cleaning things up. He walked into the kitchen to join her as she zip-locked the last bag of cookies and put them on the counter.  
  
"Whew," she sighed, looking at the sink full of dirty bowls and cookie sheets. "The only bad part about hosting a party is all the mess," she sighed, shivering at the appearance of the sink.  
  
Duke nodded in agreement.  
  
"Yeah, but it'll be loads of fun," he said, walking over to the sink to help Amber tackle the mess.  
  
Amber smiled.  
  
"Yeah," she replied, brightening a bit, digging her hands into the mess and pulling out a bowl to start working on. "I can't wait to duel someone."  
  
Duke grinned.  
  
"Yeah, that new card of yours is sure something," he said, frowning slightly at the memory of the last duel the two had together. "Lily sure can finish a duel fast."  
  
  
  
Amber nodded.  
  
"Yeah, I just hope I can tough it out against guys like Yugi and Kaiba," she said. "I've never played either of them before."  
  
Duke shrugged.  
  
  
  
"Yugi's tough," he said, looking around for a dishtowel to dry off a pan with. "I've never played Kaiba either, but assume he's tough too."  
  
Amber giggled.  
  
"Okay," she replied. "But hey, we can do it, right?"  
  
Duke shrugged with a grin.  
  
"I hope so," he replied.  
  
*********  
  
Over at Kaiba Corporation's building, Seto was still up in his office on the top floor, looking over a graph on his computer screen. Priest Seto was watching him from the couch, waiting for an opportunity to talk to him about the rod again.  
  
After the experience the night before with the jackal-warriors, it was more necessary than ever that his reincarnate try to use that Millennium item, especially in the situation with Yami Taerro.  
  
"What is Mokuba doing?" he inquired, making a cautious approach.  
  
Seto waited a minute before replying.  
  
"Oh, he called half and hour ago," he replied, typing something into the chart. "I told him I'd be late tonight."  
  
"Oh," Priest Seto replied, decided to go for it. "Kaiba," he began, addressing his reincarnate by his last name, as it felt strange to call him by his own. "I need to talk to you about something."  
  
Seto raised an eyebrow at the screen.  
  
"What about?" he asked cautiously.  
  
"About the past," Priest Seto replied, crossing his arms over his chest.  
  
Seto made an irritated noise.  
  
"Please, if you are going to tell about how the past will repeat itself like that Ishizu Ishtar woman does, spare me," he said impatiently. "I've heard it enough."  
  
"All right then," Priest Seto continued, not sure what to make of Seto's response. "Then you must know by now that I was the owner of the Millennium Rod in ancient Egypt."  
  
Seto narrowed his eyes.  
  
"I suppose," he replied in an icy voice.  
  
"And the Pharaoh owned the puzzle, which his reincarnate, Yugi Motou, owns today," Priest Seto added, hoping Seto would pick up on the pattern.  
  
Seto didn't reply.  
  
"And Bakura's ancient self owned the ring in ancient times, and he owns the Millennium Ring in modern times."  
  
Still, no reply from Seto.  
  
"So that would make you, the reincarnate of me, the owner of the Millennium Rod in the present," he finished, looking up at Seto anxiously, waiting for an answer.  
  
A few moments went by before Seto narrowed his eyes further.  
  
"Those items are something I do not want to get involved with," he said simply, going back to his work.  
  
Priest Seto gritted his teeth.  
  
"But you must," he insisted. "It is essential to the Millennium destiny."  
  
"There is no such thing as a predetermined destiny," Seto scoffed.  
  
"But Yugi is not using the rod, and it is essential to defeating the vampire..." Priest Seto continued, but was cut off by an impatient sigh from Seto.  
  
"I told you, I don't want to get involved with them. I don't need, nor want their so-called magical abilities," he snapped.  
  
Priest Seto clenched his fists in irritation. It was like trying to talk to someone as stubborn as...  
  
Priest Seto's frown turned into a grim smile at that thought, for Seto Kaiba was as stubborn as he himself had been.  
  
"It's no wonder," Priest Seto muttered aloud as he headed for the door to the office. "I am going back to your home."  
  
"All right," Seto replied, deciding not to hold a grudge against the priest.  
  
After all, as long as he wasn't going to start babbling about the ancient past, he wasn't so bad.  
  
***********  
  
The next few days passed relatively quickly. Yugi and the others would meet Duke after school at his house to work on the party decorations and such. Joey and Tristan had managed to salvage just enough sheets for their haunted house covering, and Wednesday afternoon they spent decorating the interior.  
  
Although Yugi didn't really seem to notice all that much, Yami had been gone for a while. The previous evening, he'd come back to the puzzle to tell Yugi he was just looking for information, and hadn't returned since. It didn't bother Yugi all that much, but it still made him worried about his spiritual partner.  
  
Amber, Mai, and Tea had managed to find interesting recipes out of Duke's old cookbooks and had made several dozen cookies, as well as a pumpkin shaped cake, which they had put in the freezer for the time being. They'd planned on putting the frosting on the night of the party.  
  
Duke, Yugi, and Bakura had created several interesting decorations for the main party room, which would be inside the Black Crown itself, and had worked out how many rounds the tournament would have.  
  
Each player would be labeled with a number, and the numbers would be picked out of a hat, similar to the way the Battle City final's matches were chosen.  
  
So far, the only duelists competing were Joey, Amber, Duke, Yugi, Seto, Mai, Tea, and Bakura. None of the other classmates of theirs that were coming dueled, and Tristan had decided not to duel, and to instead work in his haunted house during the duels, finishing things up.  
  
"Wow," Yugi commented as he stretched out on the grass outside after finishing putting up a string of orange lights over the patio near where Tristan and Joey were working on their haunted house. "Everything's looking great."  
  
Duke nodded proudly.  
  
"Yeah, it's going to be a wonderful party," he said happily.  
  
Suddenly, there was a crash from inside the haunted house, and Yugi and Duke looked up, startled.  
  
"Joey?" Yugi called, unsure.  
  
Joey popped his head up over the sheets, apparently standing on something to be taller.  
  
"Hey, Joey, get off of the table! My mom'll kill me if you scratch it!" Tristan yelled from inside, but Joey ignored him.  
  
"When you said party it reminded me: tomorrow is the roller skating Halloween party!" Joey exclaimed, grinning.  
  
"Yeah!" Yugi agreed with a grin. "It'll be fun, although, I haven't been roller skating in a long time."  
  
"Aw, that's only half the fun," Joey commented, flinging his hand back in a carefree manner.  
  
Duke raised an eyebrow.  
  
"Oh?" he asked. "What's the other half?"  
  
Joey jumped up in joy.  
  
"No real classes!" he exclaimed, then there was a crash as both Joey and the table tipped over behind the sheets.  
  
"JOEY!"  
  
************  
  
Ishizu sighed as the boat she'd been riding to Domino city pulled to a stop at Domino Dock, and the captain's voice rang out over the loudspeaker of the ship, explaining directions.  
  
But she didn't need any. Politely declining a young man's offer to help her with her bag, she walked briskly down the steps of the ship and into the streets of the city.  
  
It has been a while since I've been in Domino, she thought to herself as she walked down the familiar path to Domino Museum. But I need to find out just what sort of evil is approaching before anything else.  
  
************  
  
The next day at school, Yugi, his friends, even Seto, boarded the school bus to go to the roller rink for the party. Tea held a paper plate of cookies wrapped in plastic wrap on her lap as they bumped along with the bus on the ride over.  
  
"Those cookies look good," Yugi commented, knowing the girls had spent a long time on them.  
  
Tea smiled.  
  
"Thanks, I just hope they taste as good as they look," she sighed, squinting down at them. "I hope I didn't get any of the burnt ones in there..."  
  
Duke and Amber were looking through a deck of one of theirs, and Joey was talking to a kid across the aisle from him while Tristan stared out the window, listening to a CD through earphones.  
  
Seto was looking through a stack of papers of some sort that he had stored in his metal briefcase, despite the fact that he looked quite out of place on the bus full of high school kids on the way to a field trip.  
  
Joey noticed this and leaned over to taunt him.  
  
"Yo, Kaiba!" he said, leaning over the boy's shoulder and looking down at the papers. "It's party-time! Don't you ever take a break?"   
  
Seto narrowed his eyes in irritation.  
  
"No," he replied simply, going back to his work.  
  
The bus jerked and caused Joey to loose his balance, falling into the aisle of the bus as the bus turned a corner. Mr. Zaliki, their teacher and chaperone, looked up from the book he was reading and frowned disapprovingly at Joey.  
  
"Back in your seat, Wheeler, or you'll have to be sitting in it while everyone else is roller skating," he said sharply and Joey pushed himself up and hurriedly got back in his seat next to Tristan.  
  
"Sorry teach!" he called up to Mr. Zaliki, sweating a little.  
  
"Yeah, watch it Joey," Tea called over to him. "Don't get us all in trouble on the field trip."  
  
Joey grumbled, putting his chin on his hand in irritation.  
  
"Everyone thinks I wreck everything," he muttered with a sigh.  
  
************  
  
A few minutes later, the bus pulled up into a nearly empty lot in front of Domino Rink. After receiving instructions to not use the restrooms alone, not leave the rink building without permission, not horseplay etcetera, etcetera, they all filed into the dimly lit building, where colored lights moved back and forth over the shiny concrete rink.  
  
"Oo, it's so pretty," Tea commented, setting the plate of cookies down on a table as another classmate and Bakura put bottle of soda down on the table and Joey brought over a bag of plastic cups.  
  
"So can we get our skates?" Amber asked eagerly as Mr. Zaliki examined the instructions on a sheet of paper he was holding.  
  
It took him a minute to notice her.  
  
"Oh, yes, fine, go get the skates and be careful on the rink," he added sternly as the class rushed over to get their skates from the counter.  
  
A few minutes later, everyone was sitting on the floor or on the benches around the tables, pulling on their skates and tying the long laces as tightly as they could.  
  
"Man, I think I should have asked for a ten," Joey grumbled, trying to pull on a skate that was obviously too small for him.  
  
"On the contrary," Amber muttered, standing up and walking right out of her skates. "I think I needed a smaller size."  
  
Yugi chuckled as he tied his laces in a small bow and shakily stood up. Tea, Tristan, and Bakura were already on the rink, along with some of the other classmates. He nervously pushed off and skated out onto the rink, holding onto the wall as he moved along slowly.  
  
Seto had his skates on, but was merely looking at the others skate for the minute instead of getting out on the rink himself.  
  
"Excuse me," Amber said cheerfully, brushing past him as she skated out onto the rink, not to shakily.  
  
Duke and Joey skated out after her.  
  
"What's the matter Kaiba?" Joey called back at Seto, tauntingly, skating almost backwards. "You afraid you'll fall or something?"  
  
Yugi looked up at his friend just as a girl behind him started skating right in his direction, neither noticing the other.  
  
"Look out Joey!" Yugi cried, as everyone else seemed to stop and Joey whirled around, loosing his balance.  
  
"Wha...?!" he cried as he started to topple over.  
  
***********  
  
End of Chapter 10  
  
Review! And more Egyptian stuff, next chapter!  
  
"^_^" 


	11. Chapter 11: Collisions and Conversations

Chapter 11: Collisions and Conversations  
  
Notes: Okay, I reloaded this. X_X Dunno what was wrong with the first one, but it looked strange, so here it is again. ^^  
  
Thanks for reviewing everyone! ^_^  
  
"Yeah! And here comes chapter 11. Oh, and we may not get to the Egyptian stuff this chapter. It'll probably be at the very end of this one and continue into the next chapter."  
  
And…let's see. Joey and the girl? ^^; Probably not, though it was a funny pun. Seto roller skating? Can't see it myself and I'm the one writing it. X_X No one's really going to be "saving" Joey, and again, thanks for reading everyone!  
  
Oh, and one more note, on Saturday and Sunday, I'll be at a Chess tournament, but it's in-town, so I'll probably be able to update on Saturday at least, but maybe not Sunday, okay? ^^  
  
"-_-x Enough notes. Now ON with the chapter!"  
  
*********  
  
Chapter 11: Collisions and Conversations   
  
"Wha...?!" Joey cried as he toppled over, the girl letting out a startled cry as she tried to stop herself, but only succeeding in tripping over Joey's fallen body and landing on top of him.  
  
"Ow!" he yelped, wincing as the girl's elbow punched into his stomach.  
  
Yugi and the others skated over to where Joey was, and where the girl was attempting to stand up again.  
  
"Oh, I'm so sorry," she muttered, picking herself up again and getting to her feet, rubbing her knees. "I didn't see you there."  
  
"Are you okay, Joey?" Yugi asked worriedly, looking down at Joey, who was still sprawled on his back.  
  
"Yeah," he grumbled, taking Tristan's outstretched hand and pulling himself back up. "Yeah, just dandy."  
  
He rubbed his chest tenderly.  
  
"Man, her elbow was like a weight," he muttered angrily, staring after the girl as she skated back to her group of friends. "That hurt."  
  
Tristan rolled his eyes.  
  
"Well, that's what you get for skating backwards," Tea said sternly, closing her eyes and shaking her finger at Joey. "It's against the rules."  
  
Joey frowned irritably.  
  
"Last time I checked, you weren't Mr. Z," he said in a goofy voice before skating away with Tristan, chuckling.  
  
"JOEY!" Tea yelled after him, annoyed. "Oo, that boy has some nerve," she muttered, turning back to Yugi, Duke, and Amber.  
  
Amber grinned.  
  
"Well, you have to admit, Tea, it was pretty funny," she giggled.  
  
Tea frowned in irritation and skated over to where Bakura was slowly moving along, waving back at Yugi as she did so.  
  
"Hi Bakura," she said cheerfully, nearly causing him to lose his balance and fall over.  
  
"Whoa!" he cried as Tea reached out and grabbed his arm, pulling him back up before he could fall. "Not much, Tea."  
  
Tea blushed.  
  
"Sorry about that," she muttered embarrassedly as the two continued to skate. "But anyway, are you looking forward to Duke's party?"  
  
She smiled kindly.  
  
Bakura smiled as well, but in his mind he chuckled.  
  
"Oh yes," he thought evilly. "Very much so, for more reasons than you know."  
  
"Oh yes, Tea," Bakura replied out-loud in his innocent manner. "It should be a lot of fun."  
  
***********  
  
Ishizu sat calmly in a chair in her small office at the Domino Museum. She was grateful for her long sleeves, as she wasn't used to the cold, air-conditioned atmosphere of the building.  
  
She closed her blue eyes lightly and concentrated hard. Even without her Millennium Necklace, she'd always been very intoned to things like presences and danger. She reasoned that it was the influence of the necklace on her anyway, even though she did not currently possess it.  
  
"What is approaching...?" she thought to herself, trying to sharpen the vague images in her mind.  
  
Suddenly, it became clear to her as the images, for a brief moment, became vivid in her mind. She gasped, her eyes snapping open and she leaned on her desk for a moment.  
  
Then, catching her breath, she narrowed her eyes, looking out the office door and at the start of the Egyptian wing of the museum; the wing she worked in.  
  
"I understand now..." she muttered, walking out and into the wing.  
  
***********  
  
Yami Yugi floated around the city, his purple eyes narrowed as he glanced in every direction for some sign of the invaders from a few nights before, or, he added to himself, of Taerro.  
  
Their black-haired friend had been possessed for quite some time, and the evil spirit inside of him awakened complete control over Taerro just recently. What sort of powers does this spirit have? He wondered, but shook the thought from his mind.   
  
It was the jackal-warriors he needed to be concerned with right now anyway, so he'd leave that mystery for another time.  
  
************  
  
Meanwhile, back at the rink, Seto was skating at a slow pace, not because he was in any fear of falling, but because he was thinking to himself all the while.   
  
Joey and Tristan raced each other across the rink until Mr. Zaliki scolded them for nearly knocking Duke over in the process of their race.  
  
"It's time for lunch anyway," Mr. Zaliki muttered, still glaring at Joey and Tristan disapprovingly. "So off the rink and into the lunch area. And WATCH where you're going," he added sharply to Joey.  
  
Joey scowled.  
  
"Hey, it was the girl that ran into me after all," he grumbled to Duke was was skating slowly next to him.  
  
The carpeting of the rest of the building slowed the skates down by a large margin, so everyone was moving along quite slowly.  
  
Duke shrugged.  
  
"Oh well," Joey sighed. "Maybe Mr. Zaliki's just harder on the guys. I never see him yell at Tea or anything."  
  
Amber frowned, crossing her arms as she skated up to the two.  
  
"That's not true," she protested. "Mr. Z's always on my case about everything."  
  
Joey sighed in irritation at having to restate himself.  
  
"Okay, correction, maybe he's hard on the guys and the foreign students," he said.  
  
Amber narrowed her eyes.  
  
"Whatever, at least he's not banning us from skating or anything," she said brightly, sitting down next to Tea and Duke on a bench that was pulled up to a table.  
  
Tea smiled.  
  
"Yeah," she agreed, her eyes wandering over to Bakura, who was sitting at a table with Joey, Tristan, another troublemaker from class, and Mr. Zaliki.  
  
She narrowed her eyes in concern. Bakura had been acting odd all day...  
  
"Tea?" Amber asked, waving a hand in front of her as Yugi sat down across from the three.  
  
Tea shook her head and blushed slightly.  
  
"Sorry," she muttered, feeling stupid again for the second time that day. "What were you saying?"  
  
Yugi smiled.  
  
"I was just asking you if you were having fun," Yugi repeated cheerfully.  
  
Tea nodded quickly, noticing Seto was now sitting next to Yugi, though as far down as possible on the bench, so that there was an odd gap between them. He was staring off into the distance.  
  
"Yeah, I've always been a fan of roller skating," she replied.  
  
Yugi winced a little as he rubbed his legs.  
  
"It's fun, but my legs aren't used to it," he said with a crooked smile. "They hurt."  
  
Tea nodded.  
  
"I'm pretty used to it from all the dance lessons I've had," she replied as Joey opened a bottle of Sprite that was sitting on the table in front of him.  
  
"Now you two," Mr. Zaliki instructed, pointing to Tristan and Joey. "Pour the drinks while I get the pizzas."  
  
Joey nodded determinedly.  
  
"Yes sir!" he replied, picking up the fizzing bottle of soda and holding it up with his right hand. "WHO WANTS SPRITE?" he called out.  
  
Tea raised her hand a little.  
  
"Me!" she called cheerily and Joey began to skate across the carpet and over to their table.  
  
"Coming right..." he began, but his foot jerked back on the rubber braking tab and he lost his balance again.  
  
"Oh...!" Duke began as Joey toppled over once more, the sprite fizzing up and spilling all over the floor.  
  
"...no," Amber sighed, as Joey frowned angrily from where he was sitting on the floor, drenched in the clear soda.  
  
"Nobody...say...I'm an klutz," he growled through gritted teeth, obviously quite unhappy at his mess-up.  
  
Seto sighed.  
  
"You're a klutz, Joey," Tristan said, rolling his eyes as he held out his hand to help Joey up. "But you're still our friend, so let's get this cleaned up before Mr. Z gets back."  
  
"Yeah," Joey shuddered, the vague thought of what he was going to do about his wet clothes entering his mind when they heard a growl of annoyance from the door.  
  
Everyone looked up as Mr. Zaliki gritted his teeth angrily, holding several boxes of pizza. The whole room grew quiet.  
  
"WHEELER! TAYLOR!"  
  
***********  
  
Yami floated back to Yugi's Game Shop that evening when the sun had gone down. He'd been away from his partner for long enough, he decided, and hadn't discovered anything, unfortunately.  
  
He floated past Grandpa, who was reading off lists of the new Duel Monster card set that was coming out that month and Yugi's mother, who was sipping tea and watching the news.  
  
Upstairs, he found Yugi sitting on his bed with the hot-glue gun, gluing large plastic jewels to the collar of his costume. Sensing someone else in the room, he looked up and grinned broadly when he saw Yami standing in the doorway.  
  
"Yami!" he exclaimed happily, his eyes lighting up. "I've missed you!"  
  
Yami smiled.  
  
"Yes, I know," he replied apologetically, coming to rest on the air a few inches above Yugi's bed. "I am sorry for leaving you like that. How have you been?"  
  
Yugi shrugged.  
  
"Pretty good I guess," he replied, going back to gluing the gems. "I'm just finishing up my costume for tomorrow's party."  
  
Yami grinned now.  
  
"Yes, I think being a Pharaoh for Halloween is quite a good idea," he commented with a wink. "It's coming along nicely," he observed.  
  
Yugi winked back.  
  
  
  
"Yeah, I know," he replied, still smiling at he glued the last one on the collar and unplugged the glue-gun.  
  
"Did you have any luck?" Yugi asked, looking up at his friend hopefully.  
  
Yami sighed and his face fell again as he shook his head "no."  
  
"I'm afraid not," he replied sadly.  
  
Yugi sighed as well, but decided to cheer his partner up.  
  
"Tomorrow is Halloween, and the day of Duke's big Halloween tournament!" he said cheerfully, grinning broadly.  
  
Yami smiled as well.  
  
"I know, it should be a lot of fun," he said to Yugi. "I am looking forward to it as well."  
  
Yugi nodded.  
  
"Me too!"  
  
**********  
  
Meanwhile, Yami Bakura was looking through his deck on his desk, spreading out the cards and separating the magic cards from the trap cards.  
  
"Since the Pharaoh no longer uses his Egyptian god cards, my strategy should work perfectly now," Yami Bakura muttered to himself, lifting up a foil trap card, the light glinting off of the glittery picture.  
  
Behind him on his bed, the black costume he'd bought at the mall was stretched out, revealing a dark hood and long sleeves and a cape.  
  
"Black is the perfect color to be disguised in for Halloween," Yami Bakura had thought to himself. "After all, black is my favorite color."  
  
He grinned as he shuffled his newly constructed deck once more.  
  
"Those fools are all stepping right into my trap," he said gleefully, grinning his evil grin.  
  
**********  
  
In the darkness of the night, the bushes beside Tristan and Joey's haunted house rustled and a short figure immerged, hidden in the darkness. However, from the porch light that Duke had left on in back, the rims of gold glasses frames glinted.  
  
"Tomorrow night, eh?" A soft voice muttered, examining the haunted house. "Well, I think tomorrow night is the perfect time to obtain my objective."  
  
He tightly grasped a golden medallion that he was clutching in his hands, squeezing it tightly.  
  
"As soon as I can obtain my last objective, my wrath can begin to spread over the entire Earth again, just as it should have all those years ago," he hissed.  
  
He grinned, staring up at the house.  
  
"Ignorant mortals," he muttered, before disappearing behind the bushes once again.   
  
**********  
  
As Yugi was just about to call it a night and put his pajamas on, there was a knock on the door downstairs. Curious, he walked out of his room and over to the edge of the staircase, where he could see his grandfather opening the door for someone.  
  
"Hello Miss Ishtar!" Grandpa said cheerfully, pulling the door open wider and stepping aside so she could walk in. "Please, come in!"  
  
Ishizu smiled softly, and stepped inside.  
  
"Thank you," she said gratefully. "I am here to see Yugi, if he is available," she said seriously.  
  
On cue, Yugi galloped down the stairs and skipped the last two, hopping down in front of Grandpa and Ishizu.  
  
"I'm here!" he said with a grin, looking up at Ishizu curiously. "What do you need to see me about?"  
  
Grandpa smiled.  
  
"I'll be in the shop if you need me," he called casually as he walked out of the hallway and back into the Game Shop.  
  
Yugi waved after his grandfather before turning back to Ishizu.  
  
"What is it, Ishizu?" he asked raising an eyebrow.  
  
Ishizu sighed, looking down at him, her bright blue eyes bearing into his own.  
  
"I fear that Anubis is approaching the Domino area, and seeking revenge on you," she informed him seriously. "You and Seto Kaiba for interfering with his plans last time."  
  
***********  
  
End of Chapter 11  
  
Review! PLEASE Review! ^_~ Next chapter up tomorrow, hopefully. ^^ 


	12. Chapter 12: Stolen, Silenced, Awakened

Chapter 12: Stolen, Silenced, Awakened  
  
Notes: Okay! Here's Chapter 12! And thanks so much for reviewing!  
  
"^_^ And really the Egyptian stuff continues mainly in THIS chapter. X_X"  
  
Oh, and Amber's costume is similar to what I'm going to be for Halloween XD if anyone was interested. ^_^  
  
**********  
  
Chapter 12: Stolen, Silenced, Awakened  
  
Outside, Priest Seto, who had been wandering around the city streets, paused at Yugi's house. A heavy force of magical energies seemed to be coming from the shop, and he went down to the window and peered inside.   
  
He raised his eyebrows as he noticed a woman who looked strikingly like a friend of his from the past talking to the Pharaoh's reincarnate.  
  
Curious, he walked into the building through the window and watched the two from a distance.  
  
"I wonder what Isis's reincarnate could be talking about with the boy," he muttered to himself, hoping to get some answers.  
  
***********  
  
Yugi's eyebrows went up as Yami appeared beside him in spirit form. Ishizu looked over at him and smiled.  
  
"Good evening, Pharaoh," she addressed him, as she, being related to the Millennium Items of the past, was able to see him.  
  
Yami nodded, acknowledging her.  
  
"Continue," he said politely.  
  
Ishizu nodded.  
  
"I fear that also, the Millennium Items are in danger," she said sadly. "Are you keeping the Millennium Rod and Necklace safe?" she inquired.  
  
Yugi nodded.  
  
"I keep them upstairs in my bedroom," he told her with a smile.  
  
Ishizu nodded.  
  
"Good," she said seriously. "You aren't planning to go anywhere during these next few days, are you?"  
  
Yugi's eyebrows went up.  
  
"Er...I was planning to go to a Halloween party tomorrow..." he muttered, not wanting to miss Duke's long-awaited party.  
  
Ishizu frowned.  
  
"I think it would be best, however, if you stayed close the Millennium Items," she protested gently. "With the power of the Millennium Puzzle nearby, they are somewhat more protected from evil forces, and there is no telling what Anubis will do to exact his revenge."  
  
Yugi looked sadly at the ground and Yami attempted, but failed to catch his partner's eye. He knew that party had meant a lot to Yugi, and couldn't just let him miss it.  
  
"Ishizu," Yami said seriously, looking up at her and hoping his idea would convince her. "Would it be all right for us to take the Millennium Items, safely stored, of course, with us to the party? Yugi's friend will certainly be quite understanding, and we will find a suitable storing place during the party."  
  
Ishizu pondered on this for a minute, and then looked up at Yugi seriously.  
  
"That will do, Pharaoh," she said to Yami before looking back down at Yugi again. "But you MUST keep them safe. We cannot let the Millennium Items fall into the hands of evil once again."  
  
Yugi nodded.  
  
"I know," Yugi replied.  
  
Something suddenly caught Yami's eye from the next room, and he jerked his head up suddenly to get a better view of the thing in the room, but by then, it had already vanished.  
  
"Is something wrong, Yami?" Yugi asked, concerned.  
  
  
  
Ishizu turned toward the door.  
  
"I seemed to have sensed a presence in the next room," she muttered to herself.  
  
Yami nodded.  
  
"And so did I," he agreed. "But it vanished..."  
  
Ishizu opened the front door and stepped out into the chilly evening air. She paused before walking outside completely.  
  
"Take care, Pharaoh, Yugi," she said seriously, before closing the door softly behind her.  
  
"Bye!" Yugi called as she shut the door, and he stood there for a moment, thinking.  
  
"Take the items with us?" he inquired, looking up at Yami. "Do you think they'll be safe."  
  
Yami tore himself away from the spot where the spirit had been and he looked down at Yugi, smiling warmly.  
  
"I'm sure they will be," he promised. "Now, I think you'd better get to bed."  
  
Yugi grinned.  
  
"Okay Yami!" he called, running up the stairs as Yami glanced once more back at the spot before returning to his soul room in the puzzle.  
  
************  
  
Outside, Priest Seto floated down the path, thinking hard to himself. So Yugi was doing a fair job of protecting the items...that was a good thing. But Anubis was now after his reincarnate and Yugi for sure, after now hearing the news from both Ishizu and Bastet.  
  
"He must be careful," he muttered to himself as he floated in front of a woman on the path, although it didn't matter, as he was a spirit.  
  
But as he floated back toward the Kaiba Manor, the woman he'd passed by looked up, her blue eyes reflecting the moonlight as she stared after the spirit.  
  
"How odd," Ishizu thought to herself, blinking as she continued on her way back toward the museum. "I sensed a benevolent spirit, but it is the spirit of the ancient high priest."  
  
She narrowed her eyes in thought.  
  
"I wonder..." she thought to herself, hurrying on down the road, eager to return to the museum.  
  
***********  
  
A bright light flashed in the middle of Domino station, and a tall, dark figure appeared, his white eyes flashing through the darkness. Fortunately for the citizens of Domino, no one was on the streets at that time, leaving Anubis to himself.  
  
"This wretched city," he growled, memories of his last visit still fresh in his mind. "With all of its foolish mortals..."  
  
He stalked down the sidewalks, his tall ears up and sensing for the right direction to his destination.  
  
"I must find that museum..." he muttered, glancing down at a scroll in his hands. "The item I seek is located inside that wretched building."  
  
A few moments later, the jackal-headed deity was standing directly in front of the building, and he looked up at it with his unblinking, white eyes. He grinned toothily as he walked up the stairs, his ax-like sword in his left hand.  
  
Inside, all the lights had been turned out except for a few down the left corridor, which incidentally enough, was lined with mummy-cases and other Egyptian artifacts.  
  
"Ah, perfect," he muttered to himself, walking down that corridor, his claws clinking on the laminated tiles of the floor.  
  
In a room at the end of the corridor and down in the basement, Ishizu was studying the stone tablet that had been recovered in Egypt near the Grave-watcher's home. It depicted the ancient high priest and the Pharaoh of the 18th dynasty, along with their strongest monsters: the White Dragon for the priest, and the Dark Magician for the Pharaoh.  
  
"Could it be...that I am interpreting the past incorrectly?" she mused to herself, staring up at the tablet with her blue eyes.  
  
Suddenly, her attention was drawn to a strange clicking noise in the corridor above the basement.  
  
"How odd," she thought to herself, her heart beginning to beat faster. "No one should be at the museum right now, it's closed. I only let myself in with my key..."  
  
Carefully, she shut out the light of the room, and walked up the stairs. At the top of the dark staircase, she pushed the door open and walked into the dimly lit exhibition room of the most interesting pieces.  
  
As she entered the room, there was suddenly a breaking of glass, and she turned sharply to her left to see Anubis hunched over a broken glass case, picking out a flat, bronze piece.  
  
"Anubis!" she cried in horror, her eyes narrowing in anger.  
  
So he HAD come to Domino.  
  
Anubis whirled around and glared at Ishizu, the bronze piece clenched tightly in his fist.  
  
"Mortal woman," he addressed her in a deep voice, advancing on her and she stepped back slowly, contemplating on what to do.  
  
She had no weapon, no Millennium Item, and there was no one at the museum to hear her if she should scream. As she continued to back up, she felt along the wall until her hand touched upon a leaver.  
  
Her eyes widened as she realized it was the fire alarm.  
  
"Don't come any closer," she warned Anubis, but the jackal ignored her, and raised the blunt end of his weapon up into the air.  
  
Startled, Ishizu quickly pulled down on the fire alarm, causing the siren to go off. Anubis, also startled by the noise, slammed the handle of his ax down on Ishizu's head, causing her to fall limply to the ground.  
  
Then, the jackal-headed god took off down the corridors, hoping that whatever Ishizu had done to make that sound was not going to try to stand in his way. He now had the final ingredient to his plan...  
  
*************  
  
Halloween arrived the next morning, and school seemed to stretch on forever for Yugi and the others. Finally, when the bell rang, everyone, even students who weren't coming to the party, quickly ran out of the classroom, anxiously awaiting the evening and for their Halloween fun to begin.  
  
Joey ran toward his house eagerly, knowing that his mother would be dropping Serenity off any minute for the party.  
  
"This is going be awesome," he thought to himself, planting himself at the cement steps outside that led up to his apartment.  
  
He looked eagerly down at his watch.  
  
"All right! And as soon as she gets here, we can dress up and head over to Duke's place."  
  
He grinned happily. Nothing could puncture his good mood.  
  
***********  
  
  
  
Over at the Kaiba Mansion, Seto was busily writing up paperwork and doing other things for his company's business when the door to his bedroom creaked open a tad.  
  
"Hm?" he asked, looking up and seeing no one.  
  
He was about to look back down at the computer screen when something brown and furry hoped up at him and screeched. For a moment, Seto wasn't sure what was going on, and jumped back a bit, then he sighed as he recognized the figure.  
  
"Hello, Mokuba," he said cheerfully as he could, admiring his brother's werewolf costume. "The costume looks very good."  
  
Mokuba grinned.  
  
"Yeah! I even got to get my face painted at the school carnival today, so I had the guy do it like a werewolf's face," he explained eagerly, looking at his brother. "But you're not even ready yet, niisama, and the party begins in a little bit."  
  
Seto sighed, closing up his lap top. He'd forgotten to buy any sort of costume for Halloween during the week, and hated to tell Mokuba that he wasn't going to be dressing up.  
  
"Well, I forgot to get a costume this week," he explained, hoping his little brother wouldn't mind. "Besides, I'll be a duelist anyway."  
  
Mokuba shrugged and grinned.  
  
"Okay!" he replied. "I guess you just can't compete in the best costume contest," he reminded his brother, picking up Seto's deck from the table. "Can we go now?" he asked eagerly, jumping up and down a little.  
  
Seto smiled.  
  
"Sure," he agreed, taking his deck and pocketing it. "Meet me downstairs in a few minutes, alright?"  
  
Priest Seto, who'd been watching everything grinned.  
  
"I'll go with you for now," he told Mokuba, floating after the little boy, who grinned.  
  
"Okay!"  
  
************  
  
Anubis had appeared back in his temple, grasping the bronze piece and walking over to his blackish pool. Sprinkling a good amount of the pink powder in, he dropped the bronze piece in as well, causing the whole ground to begin to shake.  
  
Anubis grinned as he heard strange, unearthing noises from outside of the temple, knowing his long-buried warriors were returning to the surface, using the power from the artifact rather than his own power, as Anubis had planned.  
  
Transporting himself outside to witness his army's reawakening, Anubis looked on with triumph as the jackal-headed warriors rose from the sands, roaring and swinging their ax-like weapons around, ready for battle.  
  
"All too perfect," he thought gleefully to himself. "Everything goes according to plan..."  
  
************  
  
Amber and Mai were in the warm kitchen at Duke's house, decorating the frozen cake together. Mai hadn't dressed up in any real way, aside from putting on a bit more make-up than usual.  
  
Amber wore a long, blue, sparkly dress-like outfit that split into two, wire-lined fins at the tip, so that they covered her shoes. Attached to the fins were two strings, which she'd tied around her wrists, so that when she walked, if she waved her hands back and forth, it would appear that her "fins" were doing the moving.  
  
"Hand me that tube of orange frosting, hon," Mai asked, spreading out a layer of black icing that reminded Amber strongly of tar.  
  
"Er, here it is," Amber said, holding out the tube, and staring down at the black cake. "Does that remind you of..."  
  
Mai shrugged as she started to squeeze frosting in the shape of a large pumpkin over the cake.  
  
"Yeah, tar, but it still tastes good," she chuckled in reply.  
  
Amber grinned.  
  
"Yeah, I guess you're right," she said, tilting her head and looking out into the living room. "Where's Duke? He went to go put his costume on a little while ago."  
  
Mai didn't reply, but instead, Duke walked into the kitchen at their very minute, wearing a baggy white shirt, black pants, a red bandana, and a black patch over his right eye.  
  
Amber grinned.  
  
"Hey, the pirate-look looks good on you, Duke," she commented.  
  
Duke pushed a lock of his hair out of his face.  
  
"You think so?" he asked, looking down at his costume. "I guess it's okay."  
  
Amber nodded.  
  
"Yeah, and pirate and mermaid kinda go together, you know? The whole ocean theme at least," she chuckled.  
  
Duke nodded.  
  
"Yeah, I didn't realize that," he replied.  
  
Suddenly, the doorbell rang, causing Amber, Mai, and Duke to all look up, excited.  
  
"Well, looks like the party is finally starting!" Amber said excitedly.  
  
Duke nodded.  
  
"Yeah!"  
  
***********  
  
End of Chapter 12  
  
  
  
Review! Review! Review!  
  
"^_^ Yeah, please do. Next chapter up most likely Monday if not sooner." 


	13. Chapter 13: The Tournament Begins

Chapter 13: The Tournament Begins  
  
Notes: Yeah, Ishizu won't be there. X_X And I couldn't really see Seto as anything anyway either. He seems too...serious to want to dress up anyway. ^_^ And thanks for the compliments on the costume, Lady of the Thread.  
  
"^^ On with chapter 13 then!"  
  
***********  
  
Chapter 13: The Tournament Begins  
  
Amber hurried over to the door, nearly tripping over her fins as she did so, but managed to steady herself in time to open the door, revealing a skeleton and a pixie of some sort.  
  
"Trick or Treat!" The pixie said sweetly, then giggled. "Hi Amber!"  
  
Amber grinned.  
  
"Hey, Joey, Serenity!" Amber greeted them, stepping aside so they could come in. "Cool costumes."  
  
Serenity blushed a little under the glitter she'd applied to her cheeks.  
  
"Thanks," she replied, walking in, clutching a sparkly, star-tipped wand in her hand. "You look cool too."  
  
Joey snickered.  
  
"Trying to match your deck?" he kidded, his voice muffled under the skeleton mask he'd pulled on over his face.  
  
Amber narrowed her eyes.  
  
"I can't wait until you duel," she joked back, taking Serenity's hand. "You won't do so hot with no guts."  
  
She giggled as she and Serenity hurried into the next room, leaving Joey the skeleton steaming in the hallway.  
  
"Why...you..." he growled angrily, but the girls were already out of sight.  
  
************  
  
Yugi hurried down the street, his long, white Egyptian outfit slowing him down as he strove not to trip over it while carrying a heavy box in his arms. Inside the box was the Millennium Necklace and Rod. He hadn't gotten a chance to explain to Duke about the items, but he was sure his friend wouldn't mind.  
  
"I've got to hurry, or I'll be late," Yugi panted to Yami, who was floating alongside his friend, as Yugi ran across the street. "It's already past seven, and I'll bet everyone else is already there!"  
  
Yami shrugged.  
  
"I'm sure it's alright Yugi," he said reassuringly to his friend. "They wouldn't start the tournament without you."  
  
Yugi smiled.  
  
"You're right!" he agreed, running faster. "But I still want to get there as soon as possible!"  
  
************  
  
Serenity, Mai, and Amber set up a table in main lobby of the Black Crown with a Halloween tablecloth, courtesy of Mai's shopping spree at the mall, and placed all of Amber and Mai's cookies and the cake on it, along with some punch.  
  
"Tea said she'd bring the rest of the drinks," Amber reassured them as Serenity started to fill small paper cups with punch.  
  
"That's good," she replied with a big grin. "This is going to be so much fun! And Joey gets to duel in a tournament too!"  
  
Amber grinned.  
  
"Yeah..." she said. "And so do I!" she added to herself.  
  
Back at the house-part of the Black Crown, Duke, Joey, were helping Tristan, who had arrived not dressed up as anything special, outside, putting the last touches on the haunted house.  
  
Tristan refused to let them in the house, but had allowed them to help in decorating the lawn around it.  
  
"Come on, Tristan," Joey grumbled, trying to make a plastic tombstone stand up on the lawn. "When are you going to change into your costume."  
  
"You'll see!" Tristan called back as he pushed back the sheets and walked out of the haunted house, wiping his hands on his pants. "I think that just about finishes it off."  
  
From outside, the three heard the door bell, ring, and Duke the pirate hurried up the porch.  
  
"Another guest is here!" he called, Joey the skeleton running after him.  
  
Tristan ran up to Joey, snickering.  
  
"Yo, Joey," he joked, pointing to the costume. "You sure you man enough to enter my haunted house?"  
  
Joey growled and swung out his fist at Tristan, but he ducked and hurried into the house.  
  
***********  
  
Duke hurried over to the door and pulled it open, and he saw Seto Kaiba, not dressed up in anything other than his black outfit and purple cape, and Mokuba, as either a bear-cub or something else brown and furry, Duke couldn't tell.  
  
"Um...ahoy, mates!" Duke greeted them, trying to act his costume. "Come on in! Nearly all the duelists are here. We're just waiting on Yugi and Tea."  
  
There was a clomping sound behind them and a panting noise as Tea ran up the stairs, brushing down her pink skirt.  
  
"No, I'm here," she said weakly, gasping for breath. "I couldn't get a cab and had to run."  
  
Duke sweat-dropped nervously as he stepped aside.  
  
"Come on in guys," he said cheerily.  
  
"Thank you," Mokuba said politely, eagerly walking in, followed by Seto, who nodded in acknowledgement to Duke, then Tea, still panting, and unseen by the others, Priest Seto, who floated casually through the door as Duke closed it.  
  
As son as Duke had turned around, there was another knock on the door, and he opened the door once again to see Yugi, dressed like an Egyptian king, and carrying a large box of some sort.  
  
"Ahoy, Yugi!" Duke said, taking the box from a grateful Yugi. "What's up this Halloween evening?"  
  
Yugi caught his breath and pointed at the box.  
  
"Well...I have to talk to you about this box first, then we can have fun," he explained seriously.  
  
Duke raised an eyebrow in curiosity.  
  
************  
  
Twenty minutes later, most of the guests had arrived, dressed appropriately in costumes, and were milling around the Black Crown, eerie music playing over the loudspeakers and everyone eager to watch the duels begin.  
  
Yugi had explained to Duke about Ishizu's warning, and they had placed the box safely up on the mantle piece back in Duke's living room, then proceeded on to join the party.  
  
Seto was looking through his deck, determined to beat anyone he faced when the time came, and Amber and Serenity were chatting with Tea by the punch bowl. (Tea had added a whole bottle of Sprite to the punch, and since then, it had been going faster than before.)  
  
"I knew soda-punch would make a big hit," she chuckled, taking a sip out of her own drink.  
  
Amber nodded.  
  
"Yeah, you were right," she commented as Duke got up on a small stage that was set up on the right hand side of the room.  
  
He tapped the microphone a bit before beginning to speak.  
  
"Hello, and welcome to the Black Crown's exclusive Halloween party, and duelist's tournament," he began, and waited a few minutes for the cheers and applause to die down. "Since most of the duelists have arrived now, we thought we'd get this show on the road by drawing up the pairings for the first round."  
  
A small, black hat was on the table in front of him, and he reached in and pulled out two slips of paper. Everyone watched with baited breath as he unfolded them and read the name.  
  
Yugi eagerly watched, hoping for an interesting opponent. Joey the skeleton was glancing around at the other duelists, secretly hoping to play Tea. Duke cleared his throat before starting again.  
  
"And the first round will be, Amber Johnson versus Joey Wheeler!" he called out, and everyone turned to look at the two.  
  
"Amber?!" Joey cried, starting to get nervous again before remembering that everyone was watching him.   
  
He waved his skeleton-gloved hand casually.  
  
  
  
"Eh, piece of cake," he said smoothly.  
  
Amber smirked.  
  
"Sure," she replied innocently.  
  
By that time, Duke had already reached back in and drawn out the next two names.  
  
"Round two will be Yugi Motou versus Ryou Bakura," he announced, and Yugi looked around for any sign of his white-haired friend.  
  
"Er..." Duke muttered, reaching in the hat again. "When he gets here," he concluded.  
  
Yugi smiled, and Yami nodded approvingly.  
  
"It'll be nice to duel the real Bakura for a change," Yugi said innocently, looking back up at Duke.  
  
Yami nodded, grimly however.  
  
"If it, in fact, IS the real Bakura..." he thought to himself, looking back up at Duke again.  
  
"Round three will be Seto Kaiba versus...eh, myself," he muttered, gulping. "And round four will be Tea Gardner versus Mai Valentine."  
  
The crowd cheered as they looked around at all the duelists, each of whom now knew their upcoming opponents.  
  
"Duke Devlin hm?" Seto thought to himself, looking up at Duke as he waved and stepped down off the stage. "This should be an interesting match."  
  
Tea glanced over at Mai with a gulp. Her versus Mai? She'd only played in one tournament, and Mai had made it to the finals in two major tournaments already.  
  
"But still," Tea thought to herself. "I beat that jerk in the alley with Amber, so I've got a chance."  
  
Mai waved at Tea with a smile, who nervously waved back, taking a deep breath. Amber walked up to Joey, adjusting her duel disk.  
  
"I guess you and I get to duel after all, Joey," she said with a smile.  
  
Joey forced a nervous smile.  
  
"Eh...yeah! This'll be interesting, won't it?" he agreed, putting his own trusted deck in the deck holder of his own duel disk.  
  
The guests were beginning to get out of the center of the lobby, leaving a large space for the duels to commence, and were eagerly watching as the lights slightly dimmed.  
  
"Will Amber and Joey come to the center for the first duel?" Duke asked through the microphone and the two walked to the center.  
  
"Shuffle?" Amber asked, extending her deck to Joey, who reluctantly traded with his own deck and the two shuffled.  
  
"Just do your best you two!" Yugi called encouragingly, knowing that he wanted both of his friends to do well.  
  
Tea nodded.  
  
"Yeah!" she called as well.  
  
Seto silently watched from the crowd on the left side of the room.  
  
"Wheeler against this girl?" he thought to himself, watching as they returned each other's decks and walked to opposite sides of the aisle, facing each other. "This should be interesting as well."  
  
"Ready?" Duke asked from the stage, the crowd eagerly watching the two duelists as they drew their hands. "Duel!"  
  
Joey picked a card from his deck and looked at it.  
  
"All right! I'll go first!" he called, playing a card on the field. "Panther Warrior in attack mode, and one card face down," he said with a grin, the panther monster and a set card appearing on the field. "Your move!"  
  
Amber grinned as she picked her card as well.  
  
"Hope you like the water, cause I'm playing the Legendary Ocean magic card!" she called, setting the card in the field-card zone, and the holographic water covered the entire playing field.  
  
Joey grimaced.  
  
"Ocean decks are always tricky," he muttered to himself, watching Amber set two cards face down on the field. "I better be careful..."  
  
"Then I set one monster card in defense mode," Amber declared, her monster appearing in front of her. "My turn is over."  
  
Joey drew his next card and a broad grin spread over his face.  
  
"All right!" he thought gleefully, staring at the Legendary Fisherman card he had just picked. "This card I got from Mako during Battle City is perfect in this situation."  
  
He looked up at the ocean card sitting on Amber's field as she waited patiently for Joey to make a move.  
  
"Since Legendary Ocean makes all water monsters go down one level, I can summon him without a sacrifice!" he concluded, setting the monster down on the field.  
  
"I summon the Legendary Fisherman in attack mode!" he declared, the fisherman appearing, holding a spear and riding on a whale in front of Joey.  
  
Amber's face fell.  
  
"Drat, he used my card to his own advantage," she thought to herself as Yugi grinned in the audience.  
  
"That was great, Joey," Yugi thought to himself, wondering what else Joey would do.  
  
Joey looked at the ocean card again, and then at the Mystical Space Typhoon in his hand.  
  
"Well, since the Legendary Ocean prevents my fisherman from being affected by any magic cards, I'll let it stay," he said, playing Mystical Space Typhoon. "Instead, I'll get rid of one of your traps!"  
  
The cyclone blew over to the left card Amber had set, Gravity Bind, and destroyed it, causing Amber to bite her lip.  
  
"Ouch," she thought, glad she still had her other face down card.  
  
"Now attack, fisherman!" Joey declared, and the fisherman threw his spear at the defense, which appeared due to the attack, but deflected the fisherman's spear.  
  
"Wha...?!" Joey cried, looking at the defense monster Amber had played.  
  
Amber grinned.  
  
"Aqua Madoor has 2200 defense now because of my ocean card, meaning you'll lose 350 life points, and my monster stays," she said with a proud grin, as Joey's life points fell to 3650.  
  
Joey scowled and looked at his facedown card, Scapegoat. It wouldn't do much good to activate it for Panther Warrior's effect, as it's attack power was still less than 2200.  
  
"All right, your turn," he grumbled, and Amber picked her card, and smiled at it.  
  
"Okay Joey," she said with a smirk. "I hope you brought your best game, cause I'm turning this duel up a notch!"  
  
**********  
  
End of Chapter 13  
  
Review please!  
  
And if everything cooperates, I'll most likely have the next chapter up tomorrow. ^_^ 


	14. Chapter 14: Time for an Injection!

Chapter 14: Time for an Injection  
  
Notes: First of all, to Chris F: If you're slightly confused about Priest Seto in my fics, you might consider reading "Ancient Lies." It's kind of like the ancient Egyptian background to my fics, and it kinda explains some stuff. And yeah, I dunno why I wrote whale. X_X And to Alan: Do you really think Joey is going to beat Amber? ^_~ Eventually, maybe, but not today…  
  
Okay, this chapter-title certainly suggests the use of a certain card, ne? And I have to disclaim myself cause Lily in the show said this when she attacked one. ^^  
  
"Lily is taking over my spot! :o"  
  
Is not. Amber is a mermaid for Halloween, isn't she? ^_~  
  
"^^;;;; Oh yeah. Okay, on with Chapter 14 then."  
  
***********  
  
Chapter 14: Time for an Injection  
  
Joey raised an eyebrow suspiciously as Amber set another card face down on the field.  
  
"What do you mean, turn this duel up a notch?" he asked, scratching his head.  
  
Amber set a monster in defense mode with a smile.  
  
"Well, it just means I drew a good card," she replied with a half-shrug. "You move."  
  
Amber was still at 4000 and Joey was already down to 3650 as Seto looked over at the score board that Duke had posted up. It was keeping track of the score along with the duel, so that the members of the audience could see more clearly the stats.  
  
"That face down monster must have an effect of some sort," he thought to himself, watching Joey pick his card.  
  
"All right now!" Joey yelled happily, placing a card on the field. "I activate my Fissure card, which destroys your face up monster with the lowest attack, meaning since you only have one face up, Aqua Madoor is destroyed!"  
  
"Dang," Amber muttered as Aqua Madoor disappeared from the field.  
  
"Now go, Legendary Fisherman!" Joey called, and his fisherman threw his spear at the face down card, allowing it to spear what appeared to be a flying squirrel of some sort.  
  
It gave a feeble squeak before being destroyed.  
  
"Yes! Now her field is..." Joey began, but blinked in confusion as two more facedown monsters appeared on the field, in defense mode, and Amber's life points rose to 5000.  
  
There was a murmur from the crowd as Joey's eyes nearly popped out, the blonde-boy shaking his fist at Amber.  
  
"Hey! You're cheating!" he accused. "Why are there more monsters on the field?!"  
  
Amber narrowed her eyes at him, sighing.  
  
"It's Nimble Momonga's EFFECT, Joey," she replied in irritation. "When he is destroyed because of battle, I gain 1000 life points, and can put any other Nimble Momonga's I have in my deck in defense mode on the field."  
  
  
  
Joey felt stupid as he stepped back a bit and brought his arm back to his side.  
  
"All right, all right," he grumbled. "I activate Scapegoats and sacrifice one of them so Panther Warrior can attack one of your other squirrels."  
  
Four, colorful and fluffy sheep appeared on the field, and one disappeared immediately, allowing the panther to destroy another Nimble Momonga, raising Amber's life points to 6000.  
  
"Darn, her life points just keep going up," he muttered. "You move!"  
  
Amber smiled as she picked her next card.  
  
"Not yet," she muttered, looking at the card, and then back up at Joey. "But now's the perfect opportunity to activate this trap card of mine, Just Desserts!"  
  
Joey cringed as he mentally counted the number of monsters he had on his field.  
  
"Oh no!" he cried, his eyes bulging as Amber's trap flipped. "I have 5 monsters on the field!!"  
  
Amber smirked.  
  
"So you lose 2500 life points!" she declared, his life points falling all the way from 3650, to 1150.  
  
Joey punched the air angrily.  
  
"Drat!"  
  
As Joey continued to grumble angrily under his breath, Amber looked at her card in hand. It was a magic card.  
  
"This is perfect..." she thought to herself, looking at Joey's field. "Try Ookazi on for size, Joey!"  
  
A large flame appeared, but Joey was prepared.  
  
"No way, Magic Jammer!" he announced, flipping over his face down card. "I'll discard my Swordsman of Landstar, and then your magic card has no effect."  
  
"Hee hee!" he grinned, flashing a thumbs-up at Yugi.  
  
"Good going, Joey," Yugi called back.  
  
Amber shrugged.  
  
"No matter, I play another one face down, and end my turn," she said calmly, pointing to Joey. "Your move."  
  
Joey scowled.  
  
"I know that!" he called, glancing nervously at her trap cards as he picked his own card. "If she activates another Just desserts, I'm finished! I need something like..."  
  
He glanced over at the card he had just picked and grinned happily.  
  
"ALL RIGHT!" he called, putting the card on the field. "I sacrifice my Legendary Fisherman to summon Jinzo!"  
  
The machine monster, with 2400 attack points, rose up on Joey's field, and towered over his other monsters, crossing his arms as his red eyes lit up. Amber stepped back a step.  
  
"Not him..." she thought to herself, looking down at her field.   
  
The only thing covering her, aside from her Nimble Momonga in defense mode, was traps. And now...  
  
"Trap Search!" Joey declared, and Jinzo detected and destroyed all over Amber's set trap cards in one blow.  
  
Amber scowled in irritation. Her strategy was falling apart!  
  
"Now, Panther Warrior attack the squirrel-thingy!" Joey announced, another Scapegoat vanishing and the panther killing the squirrel, raising Amber's life points to 7000.  
  
"Now Jinzo, directly attack!"  
  
Jinzo attacked Amber directly with a black burst of energy, causing her to stumble as her life points fell to 5600. Joey grinned as she glared up at him.  
  
"Okay, your move," he said gleefully, unable to hide his smirk.  
  
Amber gritted her teeth and put her hand on her top card.  
  
"Okay, there's only one way to win this duel," she thought to herself, picking the card off the top of the deck and holding it up behind her, without looking at it.  
  
A moment passed before she glanced over at the card and grinned. She'd picked the one way to win.  
  
"Ready for the big finale, Joey?" she asked, ready to play the card. "Here comes that secret rare card I was telling you about, Lily the Injection Angel!"  
  
Joey raised an eyebrow, slightly nervous?  
  
"Injection...angel...sounds familiar..." he muttered.  
  
Yugi winced.  
  
"Yeah, we've dueled against her before, remember Joey?" he called out to him as a small nurse with wings, holding a VERY large syringe appeared on the field.   
  
It winked at the crowd with its large brown eyes, smiling broadly. Then its stats came up, 400/1500.  
  
A bead of sweat slipped down Joey's face as he remembered the monster's effect.  
  
"Uh-oh..." he muttered, looking down at his life points. "I'm not gonna last this turn!"  
  
Amber smiled grimly, feeling a bit sorry for Joey.  
  
"Sorry Joey," she said truthfully. "You played a good duel, but now it's going to end. I use Lily's effect, pay 2000 of my own life points to increase her attack power by 3000."  
  
In one swift swirl of numbers, Lily's measly 400 attack points were raised to 3400, a much more intimidating number, especially to Joey's monsters.  
  
"So this is her trump card," Seto observed to himself, Priest Seto watching the duel from above him.  
  
"How interesting..." The priest mused, the holographic duels reminding him of the duels with the real monsters back in Ancient Egypt.  
  
"Attack Panther Warrior and wipe out Joey's life points!" Amber declared, and her angel swooped down and plunged her syringe into the Panther Warrior.  
  
"Time for an injection!" she squeaked sweetly as the panther was destroyed, and Joey's life points fell to zero, meaning Amber was the winner of the duel.  
  
"And the winner of the first round is Amber!" Duke announced, though he felt bad for Joey, glad that Amber had won instead.  
  
Amber grinned as Joey and she walked toward the center and shook hands.  
  
"Good duel," Joey muttered before disappearing into the crowd.  
  
"Yeah, you too," Amber called after him, happily joining Tea and Serenity in the crowd as well.  
  
"You did good Amber," Serenity said politely, although she was sad that her brother had lost. "And so did oniichan," she added, turning around to look for her brother.  
  
"I'll be right back," she called to Tea and Amber as she went off to tell her brother how well he played.  
  
Tea smiled.  
  
"So, your new card is Lily?" she asked.  
  
Amber nodded.  
  
"Yep, that's why I play all my Nimble Momongas first, to gain life points to pay for the attacks," she explained. "I don't usually get to finish someone off as soon as I play her."  
  
Tea nodded.  
  
"Cool," she commented as Duke looked around, trying to spot Bakura somewhere in the crowd.  
  
"Er, round two will begin as soon as Ryou Bakura gets here," he announced with a sweat-drop as the stereo began to play music again. "In the meantime, enjoy yourselves!"  
  
The crowd began to mill about again as Serenity talked to Joey and Yugi looked around, anxiously.  
  
"Should we call his house or something?" Tristan asked his friend, stuffing his hands in his pockets.  
  
Yugi's eyes were worried as he walked toward the front door.  
  
"Maybe..." he muttered in reply, pulling the door open. "I'll go check and see if he's nearby and then if he's not we can call."  
  
Tristan shrugged.  
  
"Sure thing, man," he replied as Yugi stepped outside and into the chilly October weather.  
  
************  
  
Meanwhile, a figured draped in a dark outfit of some sort walked up the front lawn, dried leaves cracking under his shoes. He noticed Yugi walk out the front door, the ancient spirit of the Millennium Puzzle beside him in a spirit form.  
  
He grinned.  
  
Yami Bakura, the figure in the yard, had been listening to everything that had gone on inside, and knew perfectly well his opponent now was Yugi in the tournament of Duke's.  
  
"But what fun is a duel with all of those fools watching?" Yami Bakura asked himself as Yugi, dressed as a Pharaoh, shivered, wishing he'd have worn a sweater overtop of his sleeveless white costume. "No, we will duel like we did long ago, in the dark game..."  
  
"Oh, how did you stand it?" Yugi muttered, looking down at the sidewalks as a group of ten-year-olds walked by, dressed as super-heroes.  
  
Yami raised an eyebrow.  
  
"Stand what?" Yami asked, looking down at Yugi curiously.  
  
Yugi rubbed his arms furiously as he looked up at his friend.  
  
"Wearing short sleeves in the cold," Yugi replied, his teeth chattering as he spoke.  
  
Yami laughed.  
  
"Yugi, I lived in Egypt," Yami reminded him. "I don't think it got cold there...although I can't remember much about it at all," he admitted with a sigh.  
  
Angry at himself for letting Yami get depressed, and also for not wearing warmer clothes, Yugi turned around and started back for the shop.  
  
"It's freezing out here and I don't see Bakura anywhere," Yugi muttered, running back toward the shop. "Let's just call his house."  
  
Suddenly, an eerie laugh from behind the two caused Yugi to stop in his tracks. Slowly, he turned around, the puzzle lighting up as Yami took control of their shared body.  
  
Standing there, with wind blowing his dark cape around, was a young man of some sort, a duel disk on his arm and his face covered by a hood. He looked as though he was wearing a grim reaper costume, as if he were dressed for Halloween…  
  
"Duel me, Pharaoh," The person demanded, his voice low and almost disguised.  
  
Yami narrowed his eyes.  
  
"Who are you?" he demanded, pointing at the stranger. "And why should I duel you?"  
  
Suddenly a bright glow shown out from under the black cloak the man was wearing, and the atmosphere around the two changed from the clear evening to a foggy, purple substance that Yami had seen only too many times.  
  
"The dark games!" Yami cried, looking around for a moment and then facing his opponent. "All right, if it's a duel you want, it's a duel you'll get…Bakura."  
  
Yami Bakura grinned as he pulled back his hood, revealing his face.  
  
"I should have known you'd figure out that it was I," Yami Bakura replied, pulling five cards off the top of his deck. "But it is no matter. You and I will have a dark game now, and if you lose, you will hand over to me something important."  
  
Yami gritted his teeth.  
  
"My puzzle, right?" he asked, drawing five cards as well.  
  
Yami Bakura's grin grew even more mysterious.  
  
"No, I don't need your puzzle, Pharaoh," he replied. "It is of no use to me now. What I seek is another of your Millennium Items, one of the ones you brought with you tonight."  
  
Yami's eyes widened as Yami Bakura cackled, his voice echoing through the emptiness of the shadow space.  
  
**********  
  
End of Chapter 14  
  
Please review! And next Chapter up soon!  
  
^_^ 


	15. Chapter 15: The Dark Game

Chapter 15: The Dark Game  
  
Notes: Oh yeah, Bakura is here! And you're good, Sorceress Vanessa! XD That's exactly what he's after. (Well, I mean, I guy like him would probably take the rod over the necklace anyway, but still. ^^)  
  
"-_-x Amber won with Lily...not me..."  
  
^_^ Get over it Red. You'll get your time to shine later.  
  
Oh, and in answer to some stuff in reviews, we'll find out what happened to Ishizu a bit later, the other villains will show up, don't worry, ^_~ and Bakura's duel's gonna be pretty good. ^^  
  
Chapter 15, let's go!  
  
**********  
  
Chapter 15: The Dark Game  
  
Yami narrowed his eyes suspiciously.  
  
"Another one of my items?" he asked quizzically, strange beasts moving around in the shadow space. "Which one? And how do you know I brought them with me here?"  
  
Yami Bakura grinned, picking a sixth card to start his turn.  
  
"Well, let's just say I've been keeping an eye on you, Pharaoh," he said with a smug smile, examining his hand. "Speaking of which, you certainly have dressed the part," he added, examining Yugi's costume. "But you'd better watch your step tonight."  
  
Yami scowled.  
  
"I'm ALWAYS on my guard," he shot back, looking at his hand as well. "What makes tonight any different?"  
  
Yami Bakura gestured toward his deck.  
  
"Tonight is All Hallows Eve," he cackled, waving his hand around. "The night where the undead awaken and the fiends rule. It is under this atmosphere that my deck thrives."  
  
Yami didn't appear phased.  
  
"Just make your move," he demanded and Yami Bakura looked pleased that he'd managed to make the Pharaoh angry.  
  
"As you wish," he replied, placing two cards face down on the field. "I summon The Crass Clown in defense mode. Your move."  
  
A strange clown appeared on the field, a baton in its hand and a carnival ball beside it, it's stats 1350/1400. Yami Bakura's grin grew wider as Yami picked his card.  
  
"Come and attack, Pharaoh," he thought to himself, watching Yami's every move eagerly.  
  
"I put a card face down as well, and summon Beta the Magnet Warrior in attack mode," Yami declared, eyeing the thief suspiciously, his magnet monster appearing on the field, 1700/1600.  
  
"Bakura's strategy is to let his monsters be defeated and then use them as sacrifices from the graveyard to summon Dark Necrofear," he thought to himself, eyeing the monster on the field carefully. "If I can destroy his monsters quickly, however, I'll be able to get at his life points."  
  
Yami Bakura's smile didn't fade.  
  
"Hurry up, Pharaoh, time is wasting," he taunted.  
  
Yami scowled.  
  
"Beta, attack the Crass Clown!" he declared, and his magnet lunged forward to attack.  
  
Yami Bakura smirked.  
  
"Activate trap!" he declared, his face down card flipping up. "Bark of the Dark Ruler!"  
  
Yami's eyes went wide.  
  
"What?" he cried as Beta stopped, and was suddenly surrounded by a strange, purple atmosphere.  
  
"Heh, Bark of the Dark Ruler is a trap card that reduces an enemy monster by however many life points I decide to pay for one turn. I'll pay 1000 life points, making your monster only 700, and unable to defeat my clown," Yami Bakura explained with a chuckle. "And you'll lose 700 of your own life points!"  
  
Yami gritted his teeth angrily as his life points fell to 3300, and Bakura's to 3000.  
  
"Your move," Yami declared.  
  
Yami Bakura gleefully drew his card, then turned back to his clown on the field.  
  
"I switch Crass Clown from defense mode to attack mode, activating her special ability," he announced, smirking as the monster changed positions, and Beta disappeared.  
  
Yami's eyes widened.  
  
"What happened to Beta?" he demanded.  
  
"When Crass Clown is switched from attack to defense mode, one monster on the opponent's field is returned to their hand," Yami Bakura snapped, slapping another monster card on the field. "Awaken! Mystic Clown!"  
  
Another clown monster, even more demented-looking than the Crass Clown had, appeared on the field, its attack and defense 1500/1200. Yami Bakura smirked as he glanced at Yami's field.  
  
"You have no monsters to protect you, Pharaoh," he declared, pointing an accusing finger forward. "So prepare for a direct assault! Crass Clown! Mystic Clown! Attack directly!"  
  
***********  
  
Inside the Black Crown, the guests and the rest of the gang were happily enjoying the atmosphere, unaware that the second round of the tournament was taking place outside.  
  
"This cake is wonderful!" A girl complimented as Amber sipped her punch beside her. "Did you make it?" she asked, looking over at her with a dreamy expression on her face as she took another bite.  
  
Amber grinned, embarrassed.  
  
"Well, I helped," she admitted, pointing over to Mai, who was chatting with a few other girls, who seemed impressed with her. "She also made it."  
  
"It's heavenly," The girl continued, looking down at it and chuckling. "Which is probably a weird statement since it's a Halloween cake."  
  
Amber giggled as Tea walked by, her face concerned.  
  
"Something wrong, Tea?" Amber asked, tilting her head curiously.  
  
Tea shook her head slightly, not wanting to worry everyone else.  
  
"Well, not really, but I can't find Yugi," she muttered, looking around desperately. "And he and Bakura are supposed to duel soon."  
  
Amber looked over at the front desk.  
  
"I can call Bakura's place and find out why he's not here," she told Tea. "And maybe Yugi went to use the restroom or something. Or maybe he's out in the haunted house with Tristan."  
  
She rolled her eyes.  
  
"I can't believe he's out there working AGAIN," she chuckled, walking over to the phone. "It better turn out pretty good for all the work he's putting into it."  
  
Tea nodded, although she could care less about the haunted house at the minute. All she wanted to do was make sure Yugi, and Bakura, were all right.  
  
**********  
  
Outside in the backyard, Tristan was working on his haunted house while Joey was sitting on the covered swing on the porch, listening to the party go on inside.  
  
Serenity walked over to him, half-smiling.  
  
"Hi, oniichan," she said, sitting down cautiously next to him. "What's up?"  
  
Joey sighed.  
  
"Not much sis, just feeling stupid," he muttered, putting his chin in his hands. "I mean, I lost to Amber in front of everybody, AND I lost my spot in the tournament."  
  
Serenity smiled.  
  
"That doesn't matter, oniichan," she replied, putting a hand on his shoulder in a sisterly-manner. "You still played a great duel, and I'm proud of you."  
  
Joey's depression suddenly turned into surprise.  
  
"You are? Even though I got kicked out in round one?" he asked in disbelief, looking over at his younger sister, who nodded.  
  
"Yeah! It takes a lot of skill to play duel monsters, and I know you tried your hardest out there. You'll just win next time," she finished.  
  
Inside the tent Tristan's ears perked up at the sound of Serenity's voice in the yard.  
  
"Is Serenity out here?" he asked, looking over the top of the sheet at Serenity and Joey.  
  
Serenity waved.  
  
"Hi Tristan!" she called sweetly. "How is the house coming?"  
  
Tristan blushed slightly, but was glad it was too dark for Serenity to see that.  
  
"Thanks!" he called, then realized that wasn't what she had asked. "I...I mean, it's going good! Yeah, great! Fantastic!"  
  
Serenity raised an eyebrow, though kept smiling.  
  
"Er...that's good!" she called back, Joey scowling, folding his arms across his chest and leaning back in the swing cushion as he glared over at Tristan.  
  
***********  
  
Inside the house, Seto was sipping a soda-punch as well, as he watched the costume contest begin. Amber had decided to fill the gap in between the duels with the costume contest, and most of the guests with unique costumes had lined up on the stage, each contestant holding a number so the remainder could vote.  
  
"Where's Yugi?" Amber mused, looking around as she and Duke stood next to each other on the stage, Amber number 7, and Duke number 8.   
  
Duke glanced around a shrugged.  
  
"I don't know..." he muttered, narrowing his visible eye. (The other was behind the patch) "His Pharaoh costume was cool."  
  
Amber nodded.  
  
"Yeah..." she murmured. "I called Bakura's place, but no one answered. I guess he must be on his way. Good thing too," she added, looking out at the eager crowd, who were filling out their votes as Amber and Duke continued to speak.  
  
Duke nodded.  
  
"Yep," he agreed.  
  
Seto glanced around, starting to get impatient.  
  
"Where did Yugi go?" he asked aloud, to no one in particular. "And that Bakura person still hasn't shown up."  
  
Priest Seto, who'd been nearby, shrugged.  
  
"I think the Pharaoh and the boy went out to look for Bakura," he replied, narrowing his eyes at the mention of Bakura's name. "If you ask me, I believe Bakura is possessed."  
  
Seto sighed.  
  
"If he isn't acting klutzy, then he's possessed by an evil spirit," he muttered.  
  
Mokuba was upstage as well, but as number 5. He looked quite young compared to the other high-school contestants in the contest. Grinning, he waved over at Seto, who smiled and waved back.  
  
"Are you voting?" Priest Seto inquired.  
  
Seto reached out and picked up a slip of paper and a pencil.  
  
"Why not? Besides," he added, checking number 5. "Mokuba's costume is at least better than the kid dressed as a ghost."  
  
Priest Seto blinked, staring up at the stage.  
  
"That's a ghost?" he inquired. "I thought he was a servant washing the clothes."  
  
Seto, despite himself, laughed.  
  
************  
  
Outside, the dark game between Yami and Yami Bakura continued as Crass Clown and Mystic Clown leapt at Yami, slashing through him and reducing his life points to 500.  
  
"Now I activate my face down card, Robbin Goblin!" Yami Bakura declared, and a goblin ran over to Yami's hand and pulled his Dark Magician card into the graveyard. "When I give you damage with a monster, one card is randomly discarded from your hand and put in the graveyard. What a lucky pick, to hit your favorite monster."  
  
"Gr," Yami growled, narrowing his eyes as he picked his card out of his deck. "My move."  
  
He glanced down at his cards, hoping for a way out. So far, the only monsters in his hand were Kuribo and The Mystical Elf, both of whom being far from able to defeat Yami Bakura's clowns.  
  
  
  
Gritting his teeth, Yami put the Mystical Elf in defense mode and set another card face down.  
  
"I play this one in defense mode, and end my turn," he declared, pointing at Bakura. "Your move!"  
  
Yami Bakura smiled, pulling his card off the top of his deck.  
  
"Don't be so hasty, Pharaoh," he mocked, glancing at his own cards. "You'll lose your item soon enough. I summon The Headless Knight in attack mode, and then..."  
  
He placed a magic card on the field.  
  
"I activate Dark Hole, destroying all the monsters on the field!" he cried, the black vortex appearing on the ground.  
  
Yami's eyes widened as all of the monsters, including Bakura's, disappeared from the field in the black hole that Yami Bakura had just activated.  
  
"What is he up to?" Yami muttered to himself, then gasped. "Oh no, not..."  
  
Yami Bakura smirked as he slapped another card down on the duel disk.  
  
"Now I summon Dark Necrofear, by removing three of my fiends from the graveyard!" he declared, the eerie monster appearing on the field in front of Yami Bakura, the doll in its hands chattering wordlessly.  
  
Yami gritted his teeth and glanced down at his face down cards. They would have to hold him for the turn...  
  
"Ha!" Yami Bakura chuckled, pointing at Yami. "Be prepared to die, Pharaoh!" he declared. "Attack directly, Dark Necrofear!" he ordered, and Necrofear shout out a red beam straight at Yami.  
  
"You're finished!" Yami Bakura cried, laughing maniacally.  
  
Yami smirked.  
  
"Not quite," he replied, flipping over a trap card he'd set. "Activate Wobaku, which reduces all damage done by an opponent's monster this turn to zero."  
  
A few men dressed in green robes appeared on Yami's field, right in front of him, negating Dark Necrofear's attack and protecting Yami's life points. The men disappeared afterwards as Yami Bakura clenched his fists in fury for a moment, before relaxing once again.  
  
"Hmph, Pharaoh, you're now trying to defend yourself with your worthless traps?" he mocked Yami.  
  
Yami grinned.  
  
"My "worthless" trap just negated your last attack," he pointed out. "Now finish your turn so I can end this duel!"  
  
Yami Bakura growled, looking at his hand.  
  
"I activate the field card Mystical Plasma Zone, which increases all dark attributed monsters by 500 attack points, bringing Necrofear up to 2700," he declared, looking smug. "Now, take your turn."  
  
Yami smiled calmly.  
  
"I'm glad you finished your turn without laying any traps, Bakura," Yami said happily. "It just makes it all the easier to wipe out your life points on this turn."  
  
**********  
  
End of Chapter 15  
  
Thanks for reading, and please review! Then we'll get the next chapter up soon! 


	16. Chapter 16: Winners and Losers

Chapter 16: Winners and Losers  
  
Notes: Not much to say, except here's chapter 16. Oh, and thanks for "voting" cause the winners of the costume contest will be in this chapter. ^_^ I'm sure you'll be happy.  
  
"Thanks for reviewing!"  
  
*********  
  
Chapter 16: Winners and Losers  
  
Yami Bakura raised an eyebrow.  
  
"How do you intend to do THAT, Pharaoh?" he snapped, looking down at Dark Necrofear. "I hope you haven't forgotten Dark Necrofear's abilities now," he added.  
  
Yami smiled.  
  
"I haven't," he replied calmly, picking his next card without looking at it.  
  
A moment later, he turned his eyes toward the card and grinned.  
  
"All right Bakura, be prepared to lose," Yami declared, looking at his hand happily. "Fist, I summon Kuribo in attack mode."  
  
The little brown and fluffy monster appeared on the field, with a little squeak of delight at being played. Yami Bakura frowned.  
  
"You dare summon that pitiful creature to combat with my Dark Necrofear?!" Yami Bakura questioned angrily, pointing at Kuribo accusingly, as if it had offended him by just playing the card.  
  
"Kuri?" Kuribo asked sadly, its big eyes starting to get watery.  
  
Yami frowned.  
  
"No, I didn't play Kuribo as a joke, Bakura," he snapped. "And I thought you would like it, your theme tonight being fiends, after all."  
  
Yami Bakura growled.  
  
"Finish your turn, Pharaoh," he snarled.  
  
Yami smiled.  
  
"Next, I play Monster Reborn, reviving the Dark Magician you had taken from me earlier with your trap card," he explained, his magician appearing on the field, his attack power at 3000 due to the effects of Mystical Plasma Zone.  
  
Yami Bakura, however, wasn't phased.  
  
"It doesn't matter HOW he kills Necrofear," he thought to himself. "Because afterwards, I can replace the field with Dark Sanctuary, and then my death game can begin."  
  
Yami smiled broadly.  
  
"Next, I activate Fissure, destroying your Dark Necrofear," he said calmly, and Necrofear was swallowed up by a crack in the ground.  
  
Yami Bakura laughed as he placed Dark Sanctuary on the field, Dark Magician losing 500 attack points, due the replacing of Mystical Plasma Zone. Yami, however, grinned.  
  
"You're in for it now, Pharaoh!" he declared, the strange field covering their area.  
  
"Not quite," he replied, his other face down card flipping up. "Go, Heavy Storm! Destroying all magic and trap cards on the field!"  
  
Yami Bakura's eyes went wide as Robbin Goblin and Dark Sanctuary disappeared from the field, everything returning to normal in their surrounding dueling environment.  
  
"What?!" he cried, his eyes wide as his whole defense strategy went down before it had even come up.  
  
Yami smirked proudly.  
  
  
  
"Bakura," he addressed his possessed friend. "I was quite aware of Dark Necrofear's abilities, and therefore took steps to prevent Dark Sanctuary from stay on the field for very long. Now, you are completely unprotected and wide open to a direct attack from my monsters."  
  
He lifted up one last card from his hand.  
  
"And one, that will wipe you out," he added, playing the card on the field. "I activate Book of Secret Arts, which raises Dark Magician's attack power by 300, enabling him, with Kuribo's help, to destroy your remaining points in one swift attack!"  
  
Yami Bakura frowned angrily as Yami's monsters prepared to attack. Yami dressed as the Pharaoh, and the Kuribo, especially, were causing him to shake in anger, remembering the time in Egypt when he'd lost everything, all because of that monster's abilities...  
  
"Go! Dark Magician! Kuribo! Wipe out Bakura's life points!" Yami cried, and his two monsters attacked, bringing Yami Bakura's score down to zero.  
  
As the holograms vanished, Yami Bakura gave a hiss of annoyance before disappearing back into the Millennium Ring. Bakura's eyes closed for a moment, and Yugi took over the body again, looking over at his friend.  
  
"Are you all right, Bakura?" he asked, walking over to his friend, his eyebrows raised in concern.  
  
Bakura blinked, and looked up at Yugi, completely confused-looking.  
  
"Yugi..." he muttered, looking around strangely. "Where am I?"  
  
Yugi smiled a little.  
  
"Duke's Halloween Party?" he offered.  
  
Bakura grinned embarrassedly.  
  
"Am I really?" he inquired, looking at himself. "Oh my, I'm the Grim Reaper it looks like."  
  
Yugi nodded, still grinning slightly.  
  
Bakura sighed, however.  
  
"Oh well," he muttered, knowing in his heart that it must have been the evil spirit of the Millennium Ring again. "Let's go in, shall we? It's a little cold out here," he added, rubbing the thin sleeves of his costume furiously.  
  
Yugi nodded. In his Egyptian garments, he wasn't much warmer.  
  
"Yeah, let's go," he said, smiling and walking toward the Black Crown again, glad he'd beaten Yami Bakura, but unhappy that he'd been unable to rid Bakura of him again.  
  
How did it feel to know that someone inside of you could possess you at any moment and make you do things to your friends that you didn't want them to? That was somewhat how I felt back at Duelist Kingdom when I stopped trusting Yami, Yugi thought to himself as the two walked up to the door. But to feel that way all the time...?  
  
Bakura pushed open the door to the Black Crown and he and Yugi stepped into the warm and festive lobby, where the costume contest winners were being announced by Mai at the moment.  
  
"In third place, we have Amber as a mermaid," she announced, and the crowd clapped politely as Amber walked over to get her green ribbon from Mai.  
  
"Thanks," Amber replied, walking back toward Duke, who flashed her a thumbs-up sign.  
  
"Good job," he complimented as Mai looked back at her sheet of paper with the winners.  
  
"All right, now second place goes to Koga with the knight costume," Mai announced, and a boy wearing a large metal-like suit of armor clanked up to accept his ribbon while the audience gave another polite round of applause.  
  
Mai scanned the sheet quickly before looking up at the crowd of people waiting eagerly for her to announce the overall winner of the costume contest. She noticed Yugi and Bakura standing in the back, but couldn't say anything about them, being on stage.  
  
"And the winner of the costume contest is...Mokuba as the werewolf!" she announced, and the crowd applauded as Mokuba hopped happily over to receive his first place ribbon.  
  
Seto smiled from where he was standing in the crowd, glad Mokuba had won the costume contest. Priest Seto grinned as well.  
  
"At least they beat the servant with the sheet," he commented, watching the contests come down from the stage, everyone beginning to chatter again as Duke spotted Yugi and Bakura, and hurried over to the two.  
  
"Hey! Where've you two been?" he asked eagerly, glad to see the next two duelists had shown up at last.  
  
Yugi grinned rather embarrassedly. He'd filled Bakura in on what had happened outside while the costume winners were being announced, and Bakura seemed quite shocked to find he'd been dueling.  
  
"Er, we were outside...dueling, Yugi muttered, staring at his sneakers, which were the only piece of his clothing that didn't match his Pharaoh costume.  
  
Duke raised an eyebrow, confused.  
  
"You guys went ahead and dueled without telling us?!" he exclaimed, shocked.  
  
Yugi motioned for Duke to lower his voice then whispered, "Millennium Ring."  
  
Duke's eyes suddenly widened and he nodded.  
  
"Oooh," he replied. "Sure, no problem. Who won?"  
  
Bakura smiled.  
  
"Yugi did," he replied, although he didn't recall the duel at all.  
  
Duke checked Yugi's name off on a cart he had clipped to a clipboard and then turned around.  
  
"Okay then, I guess it's now me..."  
  
He gulped.  
  
"...And Kaiba," he finished, glancing nervously over at Seto, who was smiling as Mokuba proudly showed him his first place ribbon.  
  
Yugi smiled.  
  
"Don't worry Duke, just do your best," he told his friend.  
  
Duke nodded.  
  
"Yeah, do my best," he repeated, although he had a strange premonition that he was not going to fare so well in the duel. "By the way," he added as Yugi and Bakura started to walk away. "You'd better find Tea; she was frantic when she couldn't find you earlier."  
  
Yugi blushed noticeably and looked rather embarrassed.  
  
"Oh...oh okay, I'll find her. Thanks!" he replied with a very embarrassed grin and took off to find Tea, waving good-bye to Bakura.  
  
"Bye Yugi," Bakura called, turning around and nearly slamming into Tristan, who'd been walking by at the same time.  
  
"Whoa!" Tristan gasped, nearly tripping over the white-haired boy. "Hey! You're finally here, Bakura!" he commented, pointing at Bakura. "You'd better get Yugi so you two can duel."  
  
Bakura grinned sheepishly.  
  
"I already lost," he replied with an embarrassed smile, realizing how silly he sounded.  
  
Tristan raised an eyebrow, but didn't press the issue.  
  
"Weird, I didn't even notice the duel start up..." he muttered, before looking back at the door. "Well, since only Duke and Tea's duels are left, I'm going outside to change into my costume and get ready at the haunted house. Everyone's coming in after the preliminaries are over."  
  
Bakura grinned.  
  
"Sounds fun Tristan," he replied, looking over at the crowd as it parted and made an aisle through the middle for Seto and Duke's duel to commence in. "See you later then."  
  
Tristan nodded.  
  
"Later," he called with a half-wave, turning and walking toward the back door as Seto walked up to Duke, who was standing in the middle of the aisle, equipped with a duel disk and holding out his deck.  
  
"Ready to duel?" Duke asked feebly, and Seto nodded coldly as they exchanged decks and shuffled.  
  
"This ought to be good," Amber thought to herself, taking over as the referee for the duels. "I just hope Duke can handle it."  
  
"Duelists ready?" she asked eagerly, grinning as Seto and Duke took their positions on the opposite ends of the field. "Duel!"  
  
Seto and Duke each picked five cards as Joey and Serenity walked up toward the duel.  
  
"Look, oniichan! Duke and Mr. Kaiba are already dueling," Serenity pointed out, watching the duel eagerly. "I wonder if Yugi won his duel..."  
  
Joey looked around, but seeing no sign of his spiky-haired friend, turned instead back to the duel. He crossed his arms grumpily as Duke picked a sixth card, as he would be going first.  
  
"Kaiba versus Devlin," he muttered in irritation. "I don't know who to wish to lose more; I can't stand either of them."  
  
Serenity frowned.  
  
"Oniichan!" she scolded mildly, before turning back to the duel. "I'm sure they'll both do their best."  
  
Joey shrugged, still irritated at being knocked out of the tournament before it had barely begun.  
  
"Yeah, sure," he replied grouchily as Duke put a card face down on the field.  
  
"Okay, I set one card face down, and one monster in defense," Duke declared. "Your move!"  
  
Seto drew a card as Mokuba and Priest Seto watched from the sidelines. Technically, Priest Seto could watch from whatever angle he wanted, but with Yugi and the Pharaoh in the room, he didn't want them to think he was cheating or helping Seto. Besides, he thought, it wouldn't be fair to Mokuba to have to watch all alone.  
  
"I place one card face down too," Seto said firmly. "Then I summon Blood Vors in attack mode."  
  
The beast-warrior monster with a large sword-like weapon appeared on his side of the field, its stats 1900/1200.  
  
"Attack his defense card!" Seto declared, and Blood Vors leapt forward to attack, but Duke flipped up his trap.  
  
"Trap card! Gravity Bind!" he called, the same blue waves appearing on the field that had during Amber and Tea's duel with the man in the alley.  
  
However, Seto wasn't about to let a Gravity Bind stop his attack.  
  
"I activate MY face down card," he replied, flipping over a quick-play magic card. "Mystical Space Typhoon, which destroys one magic or trap card on the field; namely your Gravity Bind."  
  
As quickly as the Gravity bind had appeared, the cyclone of Mystical Space Typhoon spun its way over and demolished it, allowing Blood Vors a clear path to Duke's defense monster.  
  
"Attack!" Seto repeated, more loudly this time, his monster slicing through Duke's defense; a Yaronzo. "I end my turn."  
  
The crowd looked shocked at how fast the cards had been played in that round, but weren't saying anything. Instead, they focused on Duke, who was picking his next card.  
  
Duke's face fell as he realized his plan to stall Seto had failed. He looked down at his hand carefully, trying to figure out another way to get his powerful monster on the field.  
  
"Okay, I've got nothing that can destroy Blood Vors, but this should help me in getting my strong monster out," he thought to himself, playing a magic card. "I activate Swords of Revealing light, which makes you unable to attack for three turns, and then I set one monster in defense mode. Your move."  
  
Seto drew his card and then looked carefully at Duke's field.  
  
"He's obviously trying to gather tributes for a stronger monster," Seto thought to himself, looking at his own hand with a smile. "Unfortunately, that will be his downfall."  
  
Carefully, he placed two cards facedown on the field before summoning another one of his own monsters.  
  
"I summon Saggi the Dark Clown in defense mode and end my turn," he said calmly, Duke grinning at a card in his hand.  
  
"Just one more turn before I can summon my ultimate monster," he thought to himself, drawing his next card.  
  
************  
  
Meanwhile, outside, Tristan was rummaging around in the black bag he'd brought for his costume. Slipping it on over his clothes, and adding the face make-up he'd brought along, using his sister's compact mirror that he'd brought along to adjust things, he made sure everything looked perfect.  
  
"Okay, now all that's left to do is wait for the guys to finish their duels," he thought to himself, shivering slightly in the cold as he looked over at the Black Crown, where the crowd of guests were blocking his view of the duel.  
  
Suddenly, he heard the snapping of a twig over on the other side of his haunted house. Raising an eyebrow, Tristan stepped over a plastic gravestone and walked over to investigate.  
  
"Is someone over here?" he called out in a loud voice, wondering if a trick-or-treater might have wandered over to his haunted house.  
  
There was a cackling sound of some sort that caused the hairs on the back of Tristan's neck to rise.  
  
"Hey, the door is around front of the house guys, I don't have any candy," he added, starting to get worried.  
  
Suddenly, the sheets to the walls of the haunted house were ripped open and a semi-small figure entered the house with a cackle, something gold glinting on his face.  
  
"What the...?!" Tristan began, but was cut off as a blue substance suddenly surrounded him, and, feeling somewhat drained, he fell to the ground, unconscious, as the figure stepped over his body and into the haunted house.  
  
**********  
  
End of Chapter 16  
  
Review! And I'll be everyone knows who just walked into the haunted house, right?  
  
"^_^ They should. And come back soon for chapter 17, but in the meantime, don't forget the review." 


	17. Chapter 17: What Lurks in the Darkness

Chapter 17: What Lurks in the Darkness  
  
Notes: Hey all! Thanks for reviewing, and here comes Chapter 17! And let's see for replies...Who will win? We'll have to see won't we...  
  
Yep, Yami Taerro's back in action. ^^ And Lady of the Thread, you're right about Duke's monster. ^_~  
  
"Yep, yep. ^_^"  
  
**********  
  
Chapter 17: What Lurks in the Darkness  
  
"Yugi!" Tea cried, turning around and noticing the Egyptian-dressed boy running up to her by the door near the lobby. "Where have you been!?"  
  
Yugi smiled at his friend, slightly embarrassed, still.  
  
"I was outside dueling Yami Bakura," he explained with a sigh. "Sorry, but I couldn't really come and tell anyone."  
  
Tea nodded, though she was still slightly irritated, though for what reason, she didn't know.  
  
"Oh well, did you win?" she inquired, though she hoped the answer was obvious.  
  
  
  
To her relief, Yugi nodded proudly.  
  
"Yeah, we did," he replied, indicating himself and Yami with "we." "Kaiba and Duke are up there dueling now," he informed her, jerking his head toward the aisle where the crowd had obscured the duel from view.  
  
Tea nodded again, gulping now, the mention of Seto and Duke's duel reminding her of her own again Mai, which would be coming up as soon as Seto and Duke finished their duel.  
  
"Yeah..." she murmured, her throat dry. "I think I'm going to go get a drink. Do you want to come too?" she asked, forcing a smile.  
  
"Sure!" Yugi replied, following his friend through the thick crowd and towards the refreshment table.  
  
***********  
  
"I play Master Zombie in attack mode!" Duke declared, his ninja-like zombie appearing on the field in attack position, its stats 1750/1000. "And I'll have him attack Saggi the Dark Clown!"  
  
The zombie master karate-chopped through Seto's clown, destroying it, but not damaging Seto's life points, as it had been in defense mode.  
  
"And I'll end my turn at that," Duke concluded. "I can't let him get any monsters on the field for summoning higher-class monsters," he thought to himself as Seto picked his card.  
  
"Come on, niisama!" Mokuba called from where he was watching. "You can beat him!"  
  
Seto smiled at his younger brother's encouragements before looking back at his hand.  
  
"I set one monster in defense, mode," he informed Duke, setting it facedown this time, rather than showing his opponent what it was, like last time. "Then I'll end my turn."  
  
"Yes!" Duke thought to himself and he pulled his next card off the top of his deck and looked at his hand. "Everything's ready..."  
  
Yugi raised an eyebrow as he tried to see over the boy in front of him to get a better view of the duel.  
  
"Looks like Duke is up to something," Yami muttered from beside Yugi as Tea poured a cup of punch for herself, and then another one for Yugi.  
  
Yugi nodded.  
  
"Yeah...but it's risky to try something with all of those face-down cards of Kaiba's," he muttered in reply. "I hope Duke knows what he's doing."  
  
"I activate Monster Reborn, reviving my Yaranzo," Duke announced, the zombie monster reappearing on his side of the field. "And then, I sacrifice both of my monsters for Orgoth the Relentless!" he added, his Master Zombie and Yaranzo disappearing and the mighty Orgoth appearing on the field, his stats 2500/2400.  
  
"Wow!" Someone in the crowd cheered, as Mokuba looked nervous.  
  
"Uh-oh, niisama's monster is still in attack mode," he muttered, looking nervously at Priest Seto. "Do you think he's going to lose?"  
  
Priest Seto shook his head, interesting in the duel.  
  
"I don't know..." he muttered, watching the duelists closely.  
  
Duke bit his lip as he noticed all of Seto's set cards.  
  
"Too dangerous to attack now," he muttered, looking at his hand. "Unless..."  
  
Duke picked up a magic card and put it down on the field.  
  
"I use this card, Spiritualism, to return one of your magic or trap cards back to your hand," Duke announced, the first card Seto had put down disappearing and returning to his hand.  
  
"Hm," Seto muttered, staring down at his Waboku card.   
  
It would have been nice to have had this for when Duke attacked, but his other cards should cover him for now...  
  
"Attack, Orgoth!" Duke called, pointing at Blood Vors. "Destroy Blood Vors!"  
  
The corners of Seto's mouth turned up into a smirk as his one of his two face down cards flipped up.  
  
"I activate Ring of Destruction on your Orgoth!" Seto declared, a large ring appearing around Orgoth's neck, grenades around it. "The monster targeted by this card will be destroyed, and both players will lose that creature's attack points from their own life points."  
  
Mokuba grinned.  
  
"All right!" he cheered. "I knew my brother wasn't going to let Duke's monster get on the field for long."  
  
Duke gritted his teeth.  
  
"Oh no," he muttered at Orgoth exploded, and both of their scores were reduced to 1500. "Now he'll have a clear shot at my life points if I don't do something..."  
  
He scanned his cards again and was relieved to see there was still one way out.  
  
"I activate Dark Hole, which destroys all the monsters on the field," Duke announced, Blood Vors and Saggi the Dark Clown both being sucked off the field and into the black vortex from the card. "And I'll end my turn."  
  
Nervously, Duke watched as Seto picked his card. As long as he didn't pick a monster with over 1500 attack points, Duke would be safe for the turn. Otherwise, with no set cards to protect him, he was wide-open for a direct attack that would probably cost him the duel.  
  
Seto lifted up his next card and grinned.  
  
"Sorry to end the duel so quickly, Duke, but I'm afraid I've drawn the winning card," he announced, putting down a monster on the field in attack mode. "I summon the Lord of Dragons in attack mode."  
  
Duke raised an eyebrow as a spellcaster-type monster appeared, its stats only 1200/1100.  
  
"How's that going to wipe me out?" Duke inquired, looking suspiciously at the last face down card Seto had on the filed.  
  
Seto noticed Duke looking at the card and smiled.  
  
"Yes, I activate my other face down card, The Flute of the Summoning Dragon," Seto announced, a strange, dragon-shaped flute appearing in the Lord of Dragon's hand.  
  
He blew on it and suddenly, another monster appeared on the field as Seto placed it down on the duel disk. Duke's eyes narrowed as he realized what monster it was.  
  
  
  
"The Blue Eyes White Dragon!" he gasped, realized that the duel was over. "Great..."  
  
Seto smiled as his favorite monster appeared on the field, its stats, of course, 3000/2500. Priest Seto examined the holographic monster closely, the beast on his reincarnate's field identical to the Ka-monster he himself could summon.  
  
"Blue Eyes White Dragon, attack directly!" Seto announced, and the white dragon attacked Duke's life points, reducing them to zero and making Seto the winner of the third round.  
  
"Aw," Duke muttered, pulling his discarded cards out of the graveyard pile and shuffling them back into the deck. "Oh well. Good duel," he said with a smile, extending his hand for Seto to shake.  
  
After the two had shaken hands, Amber got back up on the stage, and everyone turned their attention to her, except Mokuba who was happily running up to his brother.  
  
"Great job, niisama!" he complimented cheerily, Seto smiling down at him.  
  
"Thanks," he replied, shuffling his deck again as Priest Seto looked up at the stage.  
  
"Okay, the third round winner is Seto Kaiba, and now the fourth round should begin, Tea versus Mai!" Amber announced with a smile, brushing a bit of her brown hair out of her eyes as she spoke.  
  
The crowd eagerly looked around the room, trying to find the two girls so that the next duel would start soon. Mai had already made her way to the center of the room, but Tea was still standing nervously by the refreshment table.  
  
"I don't know if I can do this..." she muttered, nervously playing with a ribbon in her hands.  
  
Yugi put a hand on her shoulder, hoping to reassure her.  
  
"Come on Tea, I know you'll do fine," he said with a smile. "You've beaten some good duelists, and there's no reason why you can't go out there and at least give it your best shot."  
  
Tea smiled gratefully at Yugi.  
  
"Thanks Yugi," she replied, putting on her own duel disk and marching out toward the center of the room. "That's right, there's no reason I can't at least try," she repeated to herself as she met Mai in the center.  
  
"Ready to duel, hon?" Mai asked smugly, shuffling her deck.  
  
Tea nodded determinedly, her eyes narrowed.  
  
"Yeah!" she replied, putting her deck in the deck holder of the duel disk, and her life point count returning to 4000. "Let's duel!"  
  
***********  
  
Meanwhile, in the desert of Egypt, Bastet was slinking around, nervously looking around her shoulder every minute. She could sense something horrible coming her way, but couldn't place her finger on what exactly it was.  
  
"I know it must have something to do with Anubis," she muttered to herself, looking quick ruffled.  
  
She was still trying to find any sign of Thoth, but to no avail. Also, she couldn't help but wonder if Anubis had really done something horrible to her friend...  
  
Suddenly, all of her thoughts were interrupted as a swarm of jackal-headed warriors, all carrying silver weapons that glimmered in the sunlight as they ran headlong toward her.  
  
Eyes widening, Bastet crouched down low, her necklace glowing for a moment and her entire body turned invisible and fluid, like water as the warriors ran toward her.  
  
"Prepare yourselves, my warriors, for Domino!" Came a distinguished voice that Bastet recognized at once.  
  
"Anubis!" she hissed, narrowing her eyes as all of the jackal-warriors were suddenly engulfed in a blue light and disappeared with a harsh blast of wind that made Bastet's fur ruffle up as she turned back into a cat form again.  
  
"He...found the way to resurrect them...?" she asked herself aloud in disbelief. "Impossible!"  
  
The, she gasped, remembering what the god of embalming had just said aloud as his warriors, and most likely he as well, had disappeared.  
  
Prepare yourselves, my warriors, for Domino!  
  
"They're going to get those mortals in Japan!" Bastet gasped, looking up at the sky. "I have to warn them!"  
  
Her silver necklace lit up quickly, and in another flash of blue light, she herself, disappeared from the deserts of Egypt.  
  
************  
  
"Harpie Lady Sisters, attack directly!" Mai ordered her three winged monsters and the three lunged forward at Tea's empty field and all three attacked her directly, reducing her life points to zero.  
  
Tea sighed with a sad smile on her face as the holograms disappeared and the crowd cheered as the fourth round of the Halloween Tournament came to a close.  
  
"You played good, hon," Mai complimented as the two shook hands in the center of the playing area. "Nice work."  
  
Tea smiled.  
  
"You too, Mai," she returned the compliment, glad Mai wasn't gloating about her victory, like she probably would have done back at Duelist Kingdom.  
  
"And the preliminaries of the tournament come to an end," Duke announced from the stage, holding the microphone in his hand as Amber checked Mai's name on the clipboard with the winners on it. "That means the remaining duelists are; Amber Johnson, Yugi Motou, Seto Kaiba, and Mai Valentine."  
  
The crowd applauded politely as they glanced around at the duelists who had survived the first round of the tournament. Yugi was snacking on a peanut-butter cookie, Mai was reshuffling her deck for the next round, Seto was watching the announcements along with Mokuba and, unseen by most, Priest Seto, and Amber was up on stage trying to get the strings of her costume untangled from the pen she'd been writing with.  
  
"But before we start the finals," Duke continued over the murmuring of the crowd. "We have a special little attraction outside for you all, brought to you specially by Tristan Taylor and Joey Wheeler."  
  
Joey smirked as everyone exchanged interested glances. Duke walked over to the back door and opened it up, and assumed since Tristan was nowhere in sight, he was in the haunted house, just like he said he'd be.  
  
"All right," Duke announced, as Amber joined him. "Everybody line up here at the door, and we'll take you on a tour of their haunted house."  
  
"Cool, a haunted house!"  
  
"I haven't been to one since I was eight!"  
  
Mokuba looked up at his brother excitedly.  
  
"Can we go in the haunted house, niisama?" he asked eagerly, grinning.  
  
Seto smiled as he and Mokuba walked toward the line.  
  
"Sure," he replied, arriving just behind Joey, and in front of Mai and Tea. "This might be amusing."  
  
  
  
Priest Seto raised an eyebrow and looked down at the two brothers.  
  
"What's the point of a haunted house?" he asked curiously, squinting out at the sheeted area outside.  
  
Seto shrugged.  
  
"It's supposed to try to scare people who go inside for fun," he replied simply. "Though, not many of them do their job well."  
  
Joey, overhearing the conversation, grinned and turned around.  
  
"Yeah! I never get scared by any of that nonsense," he replied boldly, grinning as he closed his eyes. "I just go in to humor the others."  
  
Seto rolled his eyes as Serenity tapped her bother on the shoulder.  
  
"Gahh!" Joey screamed, opening his eyes abruptly and quivering.  
  
"I'm sorry, oniichan," she replied, pointing ahead. "It's just that everyone else is already going."  
  
Mokuba smirked.  
  
"Not scared by anything, huh?" he taunted Joey, who shot him a death glare and marched ahead after his sister, leaving the two Kaiba brothers smiling contently.  
  
"Okay, be prepared for anything," Duke warned the crowd behind he and Amber as he pulled back the sheet that was marked as the entrance. "Now, enter if you dare..."  
  
"Let me in!" A girl said boldly, and the line began walking in.  
  
Yugi, Tea, and Mai eagerly followed the Kaiba brothers inside the house, looking around at the glowing tombstones and the eerie music that was playing from a boom box somewhere inside.  
  
"Oo, it really does seem creepy in here," Tea muttered, shivering a little as they passed the life-size coffin that was propped up against a tree inside the sheeted-off area. "I mean, if I hadn't watched it being built, I'd probably be more frightened."  
  
Mai smirked as she stepped closer to the coffin.  
  
"What do you bet this is where Tristan's hiding?" she inquired, knocking on the surface.  
  
Yugi grinned.  
  
"Maybe," he replied as Yami raised an eyebrow.  
  
"That doesn't seem like Tristan..." he was about to warn Yugi, but at that moment, the lid of the coffin flew off and a dark figure popped out, causing everyone in the haunted house to scream.  
  
"Ha ha!" A wispy and eerie voice laughed, causing some of the guests to try to run out and ended up colliding with people coming in.  
  
"That's not Tristan!" Tea cried, backing up from the figure in all the confusion and tripping over a plastic sword that belonged to the knight's costume, causing her to fall over on the ground.  
  
"Ow!"  
  
"Tea!" Yugi cried, looking up at the figure angrily.  
  
As the moonlight hit the face of the mysterious figure, Yugi gasped in horror.  
  
"It's Taerro!" he cried as a blue glow formed around his friend's hands and shot out at Yugi.  
  
***********  
  
End of Chapter 17  
  
"Review! Review!"  
  
^_^ Yep please do. And next chapter up soon. ^_^ 


	18. Chapter 18: The Light of the Millennium ...

Chapter 18: The Light of the Millennium Rod  
  
  
  
Notes: Well, we're looking at an action packed chapter here, aren't we? ^_^  
  
"Yes indeed. Oh, and yeah, guess the Tea vs. Mai duel would have been cool played out, but oh well. And yeah, we read Shonen Jump. ^^ That's a good idea...for sometime. ^_^"  
  
Thanks for the reviews everyone, and the cookies, Sorceress Vanessa, (^_^ Mmmmm...) and here we go!  
  
**********  
  
Chapter 18: The Light of the Millennium Rod  
  
Yugi attempted to back away from his friend, the maniac look in Taerro's eyes indicating that his friend was still possessed by the evil spirit of the past, and the stolen medallion from Madam Christina's hanging around his neck.  
  
"Ya! There's a dead guy over here!" Someone screamed, Joey shoving his way through the chaos of frightened people to get a closer look at the so-called dead person.  
  
"Dead?!" Serenity gasped, falling into Duke as someone ran past her to get away from Taerro, roughly shoving her out of the way.  
  
Luckily, however, Duke caught her.  
  
"Your power is mine, Yugi," Yami Taerro hissed, the blue light flashing around and preparing to drain Yugi of his powers as well, but at that moment, the Millennium Puzzle lit up brilliantly, Yami taking over Yugi's body and using the power of the puzzle to negate the attack on Yugi.  
  
"What do you want, Taerro?" Yami snapped, frowning, but Yami Taerro turned and darted under the sheets, and advanced on another girl, who was running away.  
  
A second later, the light engulfed her, and she fell over with a small gasp to the ground.  
  
"That medallion he has amplifies his power to steal other's energy!" Yugi cried in spirit-form beside Yami. "We have to stop him somehow!"  
  
Yami nodded as Yami Taerro turned and grabbed Mokuba's arm, preparing to steal his energy as well, but Seto knocked him away, and pulled Mokuba back toward the house.  
  
"Isn't that one of Yugi's friends?!" Mokuba cried, watching as Yami Taerro stole another boy's energy.  
  
Seto narrowed his eyes as Priest Seto floated toward him.  
  
"It's Taerro again! The one with the half Vampire Lord spirit," he exclaimed, and Seto nodded.  
  
"We have to get rid of him somehow!" Mokuba cried, but Seto hurriedly opened the door to the house.  
  
"Mokuba, get inside and away from here," he ordered sternly, as Yami Taerro turned toward him, his eyes fixating on Seto.  
  
"Ah...such powerful energies unprotected..." he breathed, running towards both Seto and Priest Seto.  
  
"Now!" Seto yelled, but Mokuba slipped and fell off the patio porch and onto the sound ground behind a few bushes.  
  
Seto ducked inside the house, hoping Mokuba would be safe back there, as Yami Taerro advanced on he and Priest Seto.  
  
  
  
"I can't call on the white dragon, as the Vampire man will only take its energies away and make himself more powerful," Priest Seto pondered, wondering what to do as they looked around in the house.  
  
"Go that way!" he suddenly called, pointing at a door, and Seto opened the door to the living room, and hurried into the dark room.  
  
The only light was from the outside porch, where everyone outside was screaming and running about in terror, although Yami Taerro was on his tail, rather than outside causing anymore damage.  
  
"Where to go..." Seto thought to himself, when Priest Seto suddenly gasped.  
  
"Behind you!" he shouted, but Seto turned to late, and Yami Taerro ran into him with a forceful shove, and Seto flew backwards, knocking against the mantle piece and causing the box resting on it to fall to the wood floor and break open, two objects from inside rolling out and onto the floor.  
  
In the darkness, Seto could only make out the vague outlines of the objects, and saw one was a long pole of some sort. Grabbing it, he decided to use it as a means of defense, and hopefully, something to knock out Taerro for the time being.  
  
Priest Seto, however, raised his eyebrows at the thin, metal object Seto had picked up.  
  
"That is..." he began, but didn't finish his thought before Yami Taerro began to form the blue light around his hands again, his eyes glaring menacingly at Seto as he grinned.  
  
"Your energies are mine, mortal fool," he hissed, but Seto held up the strange pole, ready to use the larger and rounded end at the top to hit Yami Taerro on the head, but the man gasped as the round top of the rod began to glow slightly as Seto held it up.  
  
"No," he whispered, backing away as he recognized the item, the blue light vanishing from his hands. "Not that...the only thing..."  
  
He growled angrily and ran back through the door, and out into the next room. Seto, still holding the rod, ran after him, and watched as Taerro opened the front door and dashed away from the house.  
  
  
  
Stunned, Seto narrowed his eyes.  
  
  
  
"He ran away when he saw this...pole..." he muttered, looking down at the object in his hands.  
  
In the soft glow from the porch light, Seto saw what the object in his hands really was: The Millennium Rod. Behind him, Priest Seto looked over his shoulder at the rod and raised an eyebrow.  
  
"So the Millennium Rod DOES accept you as its master..." he murmured.  
  
**********  
  
Outside the guests from the party were running away from Duke's yard as fast as possible, some climbing over the fences and others running through the house, looking for another way out, trying to get away from the chaos.  
  
Joey, meanwhile, had pulled a pocket flashlight out of his jeans and shown the light down on the person on the floor.  
  
"Aa! It's Tristan!" Joey exclaimed, Duke, Amber, and Serenity running over.  
  
"Tristan?" Duke asked, looking down at their friend. "So you're saying that the mad-man who was in the coffin knocked Tristan out to take his place so he could sneak up on us?"  
  
Serenity quivered, and Amber put a comforting hand on her shoulder.  
  
"Maybe..." Joey muttered, shaking Tristan's shoulder roughly. "Hey man, get up!"  
  
A second later, Tristan groaned and rubbed his head as he sat up, looking around at everyone.  
  
"Whoa, did I fall asleep or something?!" he asked, looking around at the torn up mess of the haunted house. "And what happened to the house?!"  
  
Joey shook his head.  
  
"You remember Taerro coming at you?" he asked, as Tea limped over, rubbing her legs tenderly, grass and dirt stains covering her skirt and ballet stockings.  
  
Tristan put his hand to his chin, thinking.  
  
"Oh yeah..." he muttered, recalling what had happened. "The last thing I remember was that I came out here to prepare for the act in the haunted house, and some guy came out of the bushes. Then there was this blue light, and that's all I can remember."  
  
Amber nodded.  
  
"That sounds like what happened to me back on Madam Christina's island," she said thoughtfully. "It MUST be that evil spirit again possessing Taerro!"  
  
Tea shivered, and looked around for some sign of the others.  
  
"Yugi?" she called, worried. "Yugi!"  
  
Joey looked around.   
  
"Yeah, where is he? And Mai?" he asked, noticing the blonde girl was nowhere in sight.  
  
Tea ran off, hoping that her friends hadn't been drained like Tristan by Yami Taerro.  
  
***********  
  
Stunned, Seto nearly dropped the object on the floor after Priest Seto made his statement. He? A Millennium Item owner? Ridiculous.  
  
He shook his head furiously.  
  
"No, it doesn't," he said forcefully. "The boy was probably just worried I'd knock him out with it or something."  
  
  
  
Priest Seto glared at him.  
  
"How do you explain the way it started to glow when you touched it then?" he inquired. "Millennium Items only light up that way when someone they accept handles them."  
  
Seto stepped back.  
  
"It was probably just the light from that blue stuff," he protested, determined not to get involved with the item.  
  
In the shadows of the room, Yugi, having taken over the body once again, looked over at the two as they were talking, curious as to what had just happened between them and the Millennium Rod.  
  
  
  
"No, it wasn't," Priest Seto replied. "That's the light that a Millennium Item only gives off when it is helping one it accepts."  
  
Seto stared at the thing in his hands, angry. He didn't WANT to be a part of the Millennium Item business. That was Yugi's whole thing, not his.  
  
"Look, I don't want this," he replied coldly, looking for a place to put the rod. "I don't care if it accepts me or not. It's Yugi's anyhow."  
  
"But that's the only thing that can beat the evil spirit in that boy!" Priest Seto protested. "His only weakness in the past had to do with that very item. If no one can use it, then we will never get rid of him."  
  
Seto didn't reply. Instead, he walked forward, hoping to just put the Millennium Rod back like nothing had ever happened, but Yugi walked out of the shadows and into his path with a smile.  
  
"It's okay, Kaiba," he said, Yami raising an eyebrow beside him. "This is actually kinda good."  
  
  
  
Yami's eyes widened from where he was watching, and Priest Seto looked amazed. Seto didn't look moved at all.  
  
"I'm supposed to be protecting the Millennium Items for so when we collect them all, we can restore Yami's lost memory," Yugi explained, looking down at the rod. "But with so many evils out to get them, it would help if you could look after the rod for me, if you'll give it back when we need it again."  
  
"Yugi!" Yami cried, but Yugi ignored him.  
  
Seto looked down at the rod.  
  
"I don't want this," he replied coldly. "It's yours anyway. I don't want to take it."  
  
Yugi frowned a little.  
  
"Maybe if I put it this way," he replied. "Could you please protect the rod for me until the time comes when I need it again?"  
  
Seto paused. Looking after the rod was completely different from actually USING it, and it wouldn't make any difference to him if it were stored away somewhere safe...and out of the way. And Yugi did seem so intend on giving it to him...by why?  
  
"Yugi I don't think..." Yami began, quite shocked at his partner's behavior, but Yugi just shook his head.  
  
"I know what I'm doing, Yami," Yugi replied mentally. "Trust me."  
  
"But the high priest...and Kaiba...well, they just can't be trusted with something that dangerous," Yami replied, narrowing his eyes at Priest Seto.  
  
  
  
Yugi smiled over at Yami.  
  
"But I think they can," he replied mentally, before turning back to Seto and Priest Seto. "So, Kaiba, will you keep it safe for me?"  
  
There was a pause, and then...  
  
"If you want me to keep it safe, I will," Seto replied, still coldly, feeling somewhat confused.  
  
Why did Yugi need him to look after the rod? Yugi had been doing a fine job...hadn't he?  
  
There was a tense silence after that, in which Priest Seto merely tried to avoid the Pharaoh's eyes, having heard the conversation between Yami and Yugi, and if he hadn't felt awkward talking to the Pharaoh before, he did now.  
  
Finally, Yugi spoke up.  
  
"Great then," he replied, as the back door to the house opened, and several people walked in.  
  
Duke flicked the switch on the wall and the house was illuminated with lights again, causing Yugi to squint over at them. Seto, not wanting anyone to get the wrong idea about the rod, tucked it away in his briefcase quickly, still irritated about it.  
  
"Yo, Yugi, you okay?" Duke asked, walking inside.  
  
Yugi smiled and nodded.  
  
"Yeah, I'm fine," he replied with a grin. "Taerro is gone though."  
  
Duke raised an eyebrow as Amber, Bakura, and Tristan followed him into the house, and rather dirtied-up Mokuba behind them, running over to Seto.  
  
"Niisama!" he cried, looking up at his brother with large, worried eyes. "Did that guy hurt you?"  
  
Seto forced a smile.  
  
"No, he left," he replied, patting Mokuba gently on the head.  
  
Duke crossed his arms sadly.  
  
"Yeah," he said with a sigh. "Along with most of my guests."  
  
Suddenly, the kitchen door opened and Mai, Serenity, Joey, and Tea walked through and into the hallway where the others were standing.  
  
"Yugi!" Tea cried. "Is everyone okay?"  
  
Tristan sighed in irritation.  
  
"Yeah, Tea, we're all fine," he replied. "And before you ask, Taerro's gone too."  
  
Tea looked slightly hurt by Tristan's comment, but tried not to show it. Instead, she turned back to Yugi.  
  
"So Taerro's gone again?" she asked. "What is he looking for, and why did he just suddenly leave?"  
  
While Yugi tried to think of a way to explain it himself, Seto spoke up, surprising him.  
  
"He saw something that scared him," he said simply.  
  
Amber shrugged.  
  
"Well, it looks like this party is over," she muttered, looking outside at the Haunted House mess and inside at the still set-up party tables and stereo still playing music. "There's nobody left besides us."  
  
Mai put her hand to her chin thoughtfully.  
  
"Well, we're still here, and we DO need to finish up our tournament," she pointed out, glancing over at Duke.  
  
Bakura nodded.  
  
  
  
"There's nothing like a duel to make you forget your troubles," he put in.  
  
"Or cause new ones," Tea thought to herself, remembering how Joey had felt after he lost to Amber.  
  
Duke grinned.  
  
"Yeah, okay," he replied with a smile, looking around at everyone. "We'll announce the match-ups for the finals after a ten minute break."  
  
Everyone nodded.  
  
"Okay," Yugi replied, walking into the next room, having noticed the Millennium Necklace on the ground and not wanting something bad to happen to it.  
  
Besides, he thought. I need to talk to Yami...  
  
***********  
  
Mokuba had decided to help pick up a little outside with Tristan and Joey, while Seto sighed and walked out the front door, and standing out on the porch, watching the traffic light in the distance change colors.  
  
"You know, I think that boy is quite smart," Priest Seto commented from beside Seto.  
  
Seto huffed.  
  
"You know that the rod is the only way to defeat the evil within Taerro," Priest Seto informed him, turning to face Seto.  
  
"I'm supposed to keep the rod safe, not use it," Seto replied icily.  
  
Priest Seto sighed. This wasn't at all what he'd hoped would have happened.  
  
"Well then," Priest Seto replied, smiling, hoping that eventually, his reincarnate would accept the rod. "I guess you'll just have to do that then."  
  
Seto nodded, knowing inside, keeping that item nearby was only going to cause more harm than good, when suddenly, there was a large crash from inside the building.  
  
Seto and Priest Seto both whirled around as Tea shrieked.  
  
"What was that?!" Seto exclaimed, his eyes narrowed.  
  
************  
  
End of Chapter 18  
  
^_^ Review please!  
  
"Yeah, please do! And next chapter up soon!" 


	19. Chapter 19: The Battle Against the Army

Chapter 19: The Battle against the Army  
  
Notes: Thanks for the reviews! ^_^ And yes, Seto is going to be hanging onto the rod for now. Of course, you can't expect him to want to do much with it just yet. ^_~  
  
"Anyhow, here's chapter 19!"  
  
***********  
  
Chapter 19: The Battle against the Army  
  
Seto and Priest Seto hurried into the house, where they nearly collided with Tristan, Mokuba, and Joey, who were also running toward the Black Crown lobby, where Tea had her hand over her mouth, looking scared.  
  
"Is something else attacking someone?" Mokuba asked as they ran into the next room.  
  
"Tea!" Tristan called, spotting her and running over, putting a hand on her shoulder. "What's wrong?"  
  
Tea shook her head slightly.  
  
"N...nothing," she replied. "Bastet just scared me when she entered the room, that's all."  
  
Joey raised and eyebrow as Tea pointed to the floor.  
  
"Bastet?" he asked, following Tea's gaze to a small black cat that was sitting on the floor, looking up at the others with a solemn expression. "Oh, that cat thing that's always showing up with weird news."  
  
Bastet's fur bristled a little.  
  
"I am not a cat THING, but a goddess," she snapped coldly in reply, looking around at them, her eyes narrowed into small, yellow slits. "But now is not the time for that. You all are in grave danger."  
  
Serenity gasped.  
  
"D...danger?" she asked looking over at her brother, confused. "What sort of danger?"  
  
***********  
  
In the living room, Yugi bent down and carefully picked up the Millennium Necklace and replaced it in the brown box he'd brought along with him. It had a large crack in the front, as if it had been dropped to the floor from a high place, but it luckily still shut properly.  
  
"Yugi," Yami asked cautiously, but seriously, from across the room, his eyes displaying somewhat confusion and his arms crossed over his transparent chest.  
  
Yugi looked his partner in the eye with a smile.  
  
"Yes, Yami?" he asked, hoping Yami would see things his way.  
  
Yami sighed. Yugi always looked so innocent that it was hard to be angry with him. But still, he had to know why his partner had done what he had.  
  
"Yugi, why did you give the Millennium Rod to Kaiba?" Yami asked quizzically. "You know what destruction that item can do in the hands of a wrong person from Malik in Battle City."  
  
Yugi nodded.  
  
"I know Yami, but I don't think that'll happen again," he said sincerely. "I trust Kaiba."  
  
Yami sighed.  
  
"You WANT to trust Kaiba," he restated. "The high priest's spirit is always around, influencing him. What if he is persuaded to..."  
  
Yugi smiled with a laugh.  
  
"Yami, honestly, I can't see Kaiba ever doing a thing with the Millennium Rod. You saw how hesitant he was about taking it in the first place. But I had to give it to him."  
  
Yami raised an eyebrow.  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
Yugi sighed.  
  
"I overheard the conversation that Kaiba was having with the ancient priest," he told Yami. "They were talking about Yami Taerro, and how the only thing that can stop him is the Millennium Rod. And since the priest seemed to know about his demise in ancient times, it was probably best for further encounters with Taerro if it was with someone who knew what to do."  
  
Yami narrowed his eyes. Yugi DID have a point...a half point at least. But still...he didn't know if the priest could be trusted...  
  
Yami's thoughts, however, were interrupted by a scream from the Black Crown lobby, and Yugi put down the chest abruptly and ran into the lobby, where he saw the others all gathered around an anxious-looking Bastet who was pacing back and forth on the floor.  
  
"Bastet!" Yugi cried, stopping short. "What are you doing here?"  
  
Bastet looked Yugi straight in the eye, seriously.  
  
"Anubis has resurrected the entire jackal-headed army," she said anxiously. "And he is bringing it here to Domino to destroy you all in revenge for intervening with his plans last time."  
  
Everyone's eyes widened in shock. The same creatures that had attacked Seto and Yugi and his friends the other day were returning? Only in far greater numbers.  
  
For a moment, no one spoke, but then, Duke cleared his throat nervously.  
  
"Er...a whole army here? To Domino city?" he inquired, looking rather pale. "But I don't think the city can stand an attack like that."  
  
Yugi gasped.  
  
"You're right!" he cried, realizing even if they COULD fight off hundreds of the jackal-warriors, the city would surely be in shreds by the time they were finished. "What'll we do about that?"  
  
Bastet closed her eyes in frustration.  
  
"We have no time to think about that," she snapped, sensing something dangerous approaching. "The army is on its way. I will do my best to relocate this fight, but..."  
  
"But what?" Tristan asked, raising an eyebrow.  
  
"If I manage to find a way, you must do the fighting on your own," she explained, looking Yugi especially squarely in the eye. "Can you handle it, mortal?"  
  
There was a glow of the Millennium Puzzle and Yami took over the body, grinning a firm smile.  
  
"I can," he replied simply.  
  
Joey smirked.  
  
"Yeah, and I'll help you, man!" he added boldly, holding up a clenched fist.  
  
Tristan nodded in agreement as Amber crossed her arms, smiling.  
  
"Count us in too," Duke said, on both his and Amber's behalf.  
  
Seto sighed.  
  
"I suppose I as well," he replied.  
  
Yami nodded, acknowledging his friends, when a crash from near the door caused everyone in the room to jump.  
  
"It's him!" Bastet hissed, causing Joey to stop, as he was running toward the door. "Be careful. I am going to use my magic from the top of the building to relocate you all. You must stall them long enough for me to cast the spell, understand?"  
  
They nodded, looking anxiously over at the door as Tea, Mai, Serenity, and Mokuba glanced at each other, puzzled. Bakura was merely watching the others, already knowing how Yugi was going to play this "game."  
  
"And you have a method of battle?" Bastet inquired, starting toward a slightly open window.  
  
Yami was the only one to nod this time.  
  
"How will you fight?" Mai asked with a raised eyebrow. "Surely you don't think Joey can knock them all out with a baseball bat again, do you?"  
  
Tea walked over to Yami.  
  
"Be careful, Yugi," she said sternly.  
  
There was another loud crash, resembling wood-splitting in half, and there was an inhuman growl from the small hallway before the lobby. As Priest Seto turned around again to see what Bastet was doing, he found she'd already snuck out the window and onto the roof.  
  
"Go hide!" Seto hissed at Mokuba and Mai grabbed his hand and started to pull him into the stockroom, despite his resistance.  
  
"But niisama..." he tried to protest, not wanting Seto to go off again, but Seto just shook his head.  
  
"You'll be safe there, and I'll be back soon," he hissed, and he and Priest Seto turned around as Tea closed the door silently, although she felt weak to run and hide.  
  
"I hope Joey's going to be okay," Serenity said quietly, her voice shaking slightly. "I don't like it when everyone's fighting strange things."  
  
Tea nodded in agreement.  
  
"What does Yugi think he's going to do?" Mai asked with a peculiar look on her face as the five crouched down quietly, so as not to attract any attention by making unnecessary noise.  
  
"He's going to summon the monsters from the dark games."  
  
Everyone turned to face Bakura, who was sitting quietly in the corner, his eyes lost in a whirl of thought.  
  
************  
  
Outside in the lobby, the jackal-headed god himself stalked into the room, his eyes narrowed as they fixated on Yami, Yugi, Seto, Priest Seto and the others. (He could see both Yugi and Priest Seto, despite the fact they were spirits, due to his powers)  
  
"And here comes pointy-ears," Joey spat boldly, his fists clenched as Anubis entered the room.  
  
Anubis snarled at Joey's comment, his warriors walking through the doors behind him. Duke winced as one cracked the glass windows of the doors that had once been connected to the door-frame.  
  
"Man, if we get through this, I'm going to have a lot of repairs to do on the shop," Duke muttered to Amber as the group backed up slightly.  
  
Amber nodded.  
  
"Yeah, but it needed new doors anyway," she tried to joke with a half-grin.  
  
Yami's Millennium Puzzle continued to glow as they retreated from Anubis and his army, hoping Bastet would re-transport everyone quickly, so he could begin summoning monsters to defend everyone with.  
  
"Well, well, the mortal FOOLS who thought they could interfere with my plans now cower in fear as I enter their pathetic dwelling place," Anubis sneered, his mouth turned up in an awful, toothy smirk.  
  
Yami huffed.  
  
"No one here is cowering, Anubis," he retorted bravely.  
  
"And watch what you're calling pathetic," Duke added, angrily. "I've seen your place and I'd take my shop over your rock temple any day."  
  
Anubis growled angrily as the soldiers continued to file in. Overhead, Seto could hear strange clicking noises on the glass sunroof, as if something was walking across the glass panes.  
  
"Definitely Bastet," he thought to himself, as nearly the entire army, or at least the ones that could fit in the lobby, made its way inside, the ones who couldn't fit inside lining up outside.  
  
Tristan was vaguely wondering what the neighbors were thinking about all this when Anubis suddenly put his ax-sword out in front of him in a straight horizontal manner.  
  
"Now, fools, your death awaits you," he said savagely, his white eyes narrowed into angry slits. "Surrender, or we will kill you by force."  
  
No one moved, and a bright silver light shown from above, as if moonlight had just decided to rain down into the dim lobby.  
  
"We ain't surrendering you overgrown puppy-dog!" Joey retorted, although "dog" was usually the name he couldn't stand to be called himself. "Bring it on!"  
  
Anubis laughed, grinning with his overly sharp teeth.  
  
"You are bold, mortal," he complimented Joey with his harsh, deep voice. "However, it is not by boldness that battles are won!"  
  
With that, Anubis began to run forward, his warriors as behind him with jackal-like yells, when a blanket of blue glow covered both the warriors and Yami, Joey, and the others.  
  
Bastet had done her job. In a flash of blue color, they suddenly reappeared in the middle of the desert, probably in Egypt somewhere, as that was the area Bastet knew best.  
  
Anubis blinked, confused, both he and his army stopping, as Yami pulled his deck hurriedly out of his pocket. Joey noticed this and followed the suit, pulling out his own, Yami motioning for the others to do the same.  
  
"Bastet..." Anubis growled, spotting the black cat a little ways in the distance, panting exhaustedly.  
  
  
  
"I used up most of my...power for the time being getting us here," she hissed through a mental link to Yami. "You must fight alone..."  
  
Yami nodded, the puzzle beginning to glow again.  
  
"Everyone, hold up one duel monster card that can help us in this situation," he instructed. "Put your soul into that card as it is summoned, and use it to aid us in the battle."  
  
Joey and the others all exchanged glances, except Seto who merely fished through his deck for his dragon. Amber pulled out a card as did Duke, Joey, and even Tristan.  
  
Priest Seto shut his eyes and concentrated closely, and a moment later, the White Dragon ka appeared beside him, roaring contently, ready for battle. Yami nodded in slight approval at the move and closed his eyes as he held up the Dark Magician card.  
  
Amber, Tristan, Joey, and Seto followed the suit, and held up their own chosen cards, concentrating on them and within a moment, a misty gold substance formed over the cards, and seven new creatures appeared in front of the group alongside the White Dragon.  
  
"What in the...?!" Anubis snarled, looking shocked as he realized Yami had called upon the monsters used in the dark games.  
  
In front of Joey now stood the shiny black-armored Gearfried the Iron Knight, holding a long black and silver sword in front of him. In front of Amber was the Red Archery Girl, holding her red bow and taking aim at the army. In front of Duke was Orgoth from his battle with Seto, Tristan, the Cyber Commander, in front of Yami, the Dark Magician, and in front of Seto was the Blue Eyes White Dragon, who looked nearly identical to the priest's White Dragon.  
  
"Whoa..." Amber breathed, looking at the monsters. "So this is how we're going to fight them off, right?"  
  
She looked over at Yami with a smile for approval. Yami nodded.  
  
"Believe in your monsters, and we will win," he instructed, facing Anubis.  
  
"Beat those pathetic creature down and destroy the mortals!" Anubis roared in anger, pointing forward, and his army lunged at the monsters.  
  
"Aim for their heads!" Yami cried before the monsters began battling, the dragons, Red Archery Girl, and Dark Magician at a distance, and Gearfried, Cyber Commander, and Orgoth in sword-to-sword combat.  
  
Soon, the air was thick with sand that had blown up do to the attacks as Yami, Seto and the others struggled to see what was going on in the battle, and to keep instructing their monsters.  
  
"Come on!" Amber called as her mermaid's protective clam slammed shut, letting the jackal-warrior's attack land harmlessly on top before it snapped open again and Red shot an arrow through the beast's neck, destroying it. "We can win!"  
  
Yami gritted his teeth as the combat continued.  
  
"I hope we can," he replied, watching the battle closely, his eyes wide.  
  
************  
  
End of Chapter 19  
  
Please review!  
  
"^_^ And the next chapter will be up very soon."  
  
^_~ 


	20. Chapter 20: The End of The Beginning

Chapter 20: The End of The Beginning  
  
Notes: Woohoo! I made it to twenty chapters, finally. ^_^; I've only ever made it to 19 before with my YGO series.  
  
"^^;;; Yeah, uh-huh..."  
  
And thanks so much for the reviews guys. ^_^ I've never made it over 100 on my series either. YAY!  
  
"O_O Ooookay. Here's Chapter twenty for you all. ^^ Enjoy. Oh, and if we hadn't mentioned it before, the Army of Anubis is from the Mummy Returns. ^^ We modified their origins though. And thanks to Alan for the idea regarding the Dark Magician. ^_~ And yep! I'm REALLLLY happy to be in on all the action! Go me!"  
  
^^; Oh, and as always, since this is the end of the story, my next one will be started either today or tomorrow. The "clue" to this next story was in the chapter where Mai was talking to Amber and Tea. ^_~  
  
***********  
  
Chapter 20: The End of The Beginning  
  
Back in Domino, Tea opened the door to the storeroom a crack and peeked out. Both the army of Anubis AND all of their friends had disappeared, probably by Bastet's spell.  
  
But where had they gone...?  
  
"The coast is clear," Tea told the others as she opened the door wider and stepped out into the eerie silence of the shop.  
  
Mai walked over to the light switch and flicked it upwards, bathing everyone in light from the ceiling.  
  
"My oh my," Mai muttered, looking around at the torn-up door and the broken glass that was scattered about the floor. "If this place didn't need cleaning BEFORE those jackal-guys arrived, it sure does now."  
  
She'd meant the comment to lighten the air around them a bit, but no one seemed to take notice of it. Mokuba, Tea, and Serenity all wore similar expressions of worry on their faces as they looked around.  
  
Bakura was still silent, watching the others and thinking to himself.  
  
"So they're all really gone?" Mokuba asked, his voice breaking a little. "Where to though, and when will they come back again?"  
  
  
  
Tea bit her lip.  
  
"I don't know," she replied. "But I DO know that Yugi will never let anyone or anything beat him. They'll all be back safe and sound," she added firmly.  
  
Serenity still looked worried as she looked up at the sunroof.  
  
"It looks like the Bastet cat went with them," she observed, noticing that the black cat was no longer on the ceiling. "I hope that everyone'll be okay..."  
  
As the others paced around, unsure of what to do in the large, empty lobby, Bakura's Millennium Ring suddenly lit up and one of the glowing, golden pointers pointed into the next room.  
  
Angrily, Bakura pushed the ring's pointer down and stuffed the ring inside his shirt. There was enough trouble going on right now without the Millennium Ring causing anymore.  
  
***********  
  
Meanwhile, back in Egypt, the battle between the army of Anubis and the monsters of the gang's still waged on, Yami's team seeming to be slightly ahead, as several jackal-warriors were disappearing each moment.  
  
"Blue Eyes!" Seto declared as a large troop of warriors came towards he and his ancient self.  
  
"White Dragon!" Priest Seto called, calling upon his dragon.  
  
"Attack!" The two yelled in unison, and two large white burst-streams destroyed nearly a hundred of the jackal-warriors in their tracks, the destroyed warriors turning to sand and falling to the ground.  
  
The two looked over at each other for a moment and Priest Seto was sure he almost saw a smile flicker over his reincarnate's face, but a moment later, he was focusing on the battle once again.  
  
  
  
"Dark Magic Attack!" Yami declared, his magician sending out a black beam, destroying several of the warriors at once.  
  
Out in the midst of all the action, Gearfried and Orgoth used their swords to cleanly slice off the jackal-beast's heads, reducing them to sand once again, as the Cyber Commander of Tristan's used his heavy weapon as Joey had used the baseball bat, to knock off the heads of the warriors.  
  
"Take that you stupid wannabes!" Joey yelled triumphantly as Gearfried sliced off two heads in one tremendous blow.  
  
Amber gritted her teeth as the clam on her monster slammed shut again to protect her, Orgoth coming to her aid and destroying the jackal-warrior as he was attempting to pry open the shell.  
  
"Thanks Duke," Amber said with a wink, as Duke grinned.  
  
"No problem," he replied as Red winked at Orgoth, though he didn't seem to notice in the middle of the battle.  
  
By now, nearly all but a hundred or so of the jackal-warriors had been destroyed, and it was becoming easier and easier to kill them off without so many protectors around each one.  
  
As Orgoth turned to attack one, however, another jackal-warrior lifted the heavy ax-blade and chopped through Duke's monster, cutting it clean in half, the remaining pieces fading away as they fell toward the ground.  
  
"Oh," Duke muttered, clutching his chest with narrowed eyes. "Darn..."  
  
Amber raised her eyebrows, concerned.  
  
"Are you okay?" she asked tilting her head as her mermaid pinned a jackal-warrior to the ground with one of her arrows.  
  
Duke nodded grimly.  
  
"Yeah, fine I guess," he muttered, standing up straighter again. "I just don't know why that happened..."  
  
Yami narrowed his eyes.  
  
"When you summoned these monsters, you used part of your own spirit, your soul, in doing so," he explained briefly. "Because of that, when your monsters are injured, you feel part of their pain."  
  
Duke grimaced.  
  
"Ya! I see whatcha mean," Tristan muttered, sinking to the ground as the Cyber Commander was defeated by another one of the jackal-warriors, vanishing from the field.  
  
Joey gritted his teeth.  
  
"Come on guys!" he called as Gearfried's sword was nearly knocked out of his hands as several warriors surrounded him at once. "We gotta win this!"  
  
Yami bit his lip as the time it took for the Dark Magician's distance attack to get to the warriors gave the enemy enough time to evade the attack altogether.  
  
"Yami, maybe we ought to fight with a warrior type monster," Yugi suggested, appearing beside Yami as the battle waged on. "That way, we could get our attacks through to the jackal-warriors."  
  
"Attack, Blue Eyes!" Seto declared again, but the attack only caused a large sheet of sand to fly into the air and rain down again upon the gang, obscuring the fight from view.  
  
"You're right, aibou," Yami replied to Yugi, an idea forming in his mind as he remembered a tag-duel he'd once fought with Joey. "Joey! Play the magic card to turn Dark Magician into a stronger type for this battle!"  
  
Joey looked blankly at Yami for a moment, then realized what he was talking about. Hurriedly, he fished through his deck until he came upon the magic card he was looking for.  
  
"Go! Name of Knight on Dark Magician!" Joey called, holding up the glowing magic card and the Dark Magician was surrounded by a white glow as he began to transform.  
  
Within a few seconds, the Dark Magician's staff had been transformed into a green sword, and his magician's hat turned down into more of a warrior's helmet as he became a warrior monster.  
  
Joey grinned broadly as the new Dark Magician Knight hopped down onto the field, using his glowing blade to slash through the jackal-warriors. Anubis's white eyes went wide, as he saw the new and powerful creature destroying several of his by the second.  
  
"Destroy the Dark Magician Knight!" Anubis howled, backing up slightly.  
  
There were only twenty or so warriors left on the field, and judging from earlier performance, Anubis figured they wouldn't last against two dragons, an archer, and two knights.  
  
"We're coming to the home stretch!" Joey cheered as Gearfried and Dark Magician Knight battled back to back, Red Archery Girl and the two dragons picking off stray packs of the warriors.  
  
Dark Magician Knight raised his sword once more and sliced through the very last warrior of Anubis's, reducing it to grains of sand which fell to the ground and settled in with the rest of the desert.  
  
Yami looked up at Anubis, who looked astonished, with narrowed eyes, the monsters all turning their attention to the jackal-headed god.  
  
"This...this is impossible!" Anubis snarled, his voice shaking with both fury and fright. "My army! My entire army..."  
  
"...was beaten by us," Joey finished with a smirk.  
  
Priest Seto nodded.  
  
"You cannot defeat us by a mere army like that," he said to Anubis, as he knew the god could hear him.  
  
"And you will never defeat our combined power no matter WHAT means you decide to use," Yami finished, the monsters all poised for attack.  
  
Anubis growled, a blue glow forming over his body, his sword still glinting in the light of the moon. There was no point in fighting all the monsters straight up, for he would not be able to defeat them. He would have to think of a new plan and destroy the fools next time...  
  
"This isn't over, mortals," he snarled, started to disappear. "I will return, and you WILL regret this."  
  
And in a puff of blue smoke, Anubis disappeared. The Millennium Puzzle glowed for a moment, and all over the monsters, with the exception of the White Dragon, disappeared, returning to their proper places in their respective owner's decks.  
  
Priest Seto called back his White Dragon, which returned to its spot in his master's mind.  
  
"All right!" Joey cheered, raising both palms for high-fives. "We rock! Did we kick that dude's jackal butt good or what?"  
  
Yami raised an eyebrow, although he was smiling.  
  
"That is an interesting way to put it, Joey," he replied as Tristan, Duke, and Amber all slapped high-fives.  
  
Seto didn't join in the high-fiving, obviously, although he did look somewhat satisfied at having beaten Anubis. However, a thought was lingering in the back of his mind.  
  
"The Millennium Puzzle called forth all the monsters, but Yugi said something about our own soul being connected to them," he muttered to himself, watching Yugi and his friends cheerfully enjoying their victory. "Does that mean that believing the monsters would be victorious was a key element in the battle, like in his Heart of the Cards?"  
  
  
  
He was quite irritated to find himself thinking about such things a moment later, however. Though, although never would he admit it, he knew that they must be true.  
  
"So...you won," Came a smooth voice from behind them, and everyone turned to see Bastet, her silver collar aglow.  
  
Yugi smiled, taking over his body again.  
  
  
  
"Yeah, for now," he said, looking down at Bastet with a smile. "Thanks for helping us out back there, Bastet."  
  
Bastet huffed haughtily and turned around, her tail flipping back and forth.  
  
"It is my duty to aid you," she replied calmly. "But now I must go. I have found Thoth's location, and he will need my assistance."  
  
Joey folded his arms across his chest as the black cat was consumed with the blue glow as well, and vanished, as had Anubis.  
  
"Well good riddance to her," Joey grumbled as he turned to face his friends. "Let's go home and..."  
  
He trailed off, his eyes growing wide. Suddenly, no one looked that happy to have seen Bastet leave.  
  
"Uh...Joey..." Duke muttered, biting his lip. "We're in the middle of an Egyptian desert."  
  
"Gah!!! No wait! Come back you stupid cat!" Joey yelled, his cries seeming small in the vast and empty desert that stretched for miles on end.  
  
Seto sighed.  
  
"Why can't anything ever go right?" he grumbled to himself.  
  
"What are we going to do, Yami?" Yugi asked his friend nervously, digging the toe of his shoe in the sand uneasily.  
  
But before the gang had anymore time to think, the blue glow flashed again and Bastet returned.  
  
"I am not stupid, nor a mere cat," she said icily to Joey with a cat's-eye glare. "If it is home you want, it is home you will return to."  
  
And in the flash of blue light, the entire gang disappeared.  
  
**********  
  
A split second later, they found themselves in the middle of the lobby back at the Black Crown, the rest of their friends still pacing around, Bakura looking up at them, shocked.  
  
"My, you've returned already?" he asked, wide-eyed. "Did you defeat the army?"  
  
Yugi nodded.  
  
"We sure did," he replied as the other ran over to them, Serenity and Mokuba both hugging their older brothers, and Tea running over to him.  
  
  
  
"Yugi!" she cried, giving him a quick hug before remembering everyone else, especially Mai, were still watching and letting go. "Yugi...er..."  
  
Now I feel stupid, Tea thought to herself, wishing she'd never said anything at all.  
  
  
  
"Good to see you again," she settled on, smiling, hoping she didn't look TOO silly.  
  
Yugi, however, smiled back.  
  
"Good to see you too, Tea," he replied happily.  
  
"I think it's good this whole mess is over," Mokuba sighed, looking around at the others.   
  
Tristan nodded.  
  
"Man it has been one heck of a night," he said, stifling a yawn.  
  
Duke sighed.  
  
"And one heck of a party, too," he kidded with a crooked grin. "Guess no one'll be coming to my place again without being afraid of possessed classmates and jackal army attacks."  
  
Yugi laughed, as did most of the others. Amber put a hand on Duke's shoulder.  
  
"It's okay, the party was still fun," she replied.  
  
Mai nodded.  
  
"Yeah, so was the tournament," she added, which caused Duke's eyes to widen.  
  
"Oh yeah...we never finished the tournament!" he moaned, looking around.  
  
Amber glanced down at her watch.  
  
"Whoa, I think it's a little too late to continue now," she sighed, looking around at the others, who were either yawning or had their eyelids drooping.  
  
Mai shrugged.  
  
"You could always call it a "to be continued" tournament," she suggested, flicking her blonde hair back. "I mean, no one was going to be around to watch the rest anyway right now."  
  
Duke nodded, feeling slightly more cheerful.  
  
"Yeah, you're right," he replied. "I guess we'll just have to pick it up next time."  
  
  
  
Yugi smiled.  
  
"Uh-huh," he agreed.  
  
Priest Seto smiled for a moment before sensing something behind him and whirling around, just as the others heard a strange crunching noise, like footsteps on broken glass.  
  
"Who's there?" Yugi called, looking slightly nervous.  
  
What if there was still a jackal-warrior that had been left behind when Bastet transported them all?  
  
But to everyone's relief, they saw it was not a jackal-warrior, but Ishizu Ishtar, walking over to them, a small white bandage over her forehead.  
  
"Ishizu!" Tea sighed with relief, as Yugi ran over to their friend.  
  
"Ishizu, what happened to you?" he asked, staring up at her, indicating this bandage.  
  
Ishizu smiled softly.  
  
"I encountered Anubis...as I see, so did you," she replied, peering around. "I assume, Pharaoh, you won the battle?"  
  
Yugi grinned, embarrassed.  
  
"Well, for now," he replied simply. "But are you sure you're okay?"  
  
Ishizu nodded.  
  
"Of course," she replied. "I will be fine. I just came to make sure you all had gotten through the evening safely."  
  
Yugi grinned, then sighed, yawning. He was tired. It had been, after all, an exhausting day, and everyone was still standing around Duke's game shop in their Halloween costumes.  
  
"Well guys," Mai yawned, stretching her arms up. "It's been a fun evening, but I'm heading home."  
  
Joey nodded.  
  
"Yeah, us too," he said, he and Serenity heading for the door. (Or what used to be the door.)   
  
"Thanks for having us over," Serenity called back, politely, to Duke and Amber.  
  
Amber winked.  
  
"Any time," Duke replied with a smile.  
  
Within a few minutes, everyone had left Amber, Duke, and a few of the Black Crown employees who had come over to see what the commotion was about alone in the Black Crown lobby.  
  
"Well," Duke yawned, pulling his eye-patch off and tucking it into his pocket as he headed for the house part of the shop. "I'm heading off to bed."  
  
Amber nodded sleepily.  
  
"Yeah, me too," she added, following Duke toward the house, when a neighbor-boy, dressed as Frankenstein, poked his head in through the broken door.  
  
"Hey!" he called, causing Duke and Amber to stop and turn around. "Where did you go to hire all those guys dressed up as jackal-soldiers to pose at your place? I'm putting on a play downtown and wondered where they got their costumes."  
  
Amber and Duke glanced at each other and burst out laughing, leaving the boy looking quite confused.  
  
***********  
  
As Seto walked home, carrying Mokuba, who had fallen asleep, he glanced down at the silver briefcase he was holding. Inside, rattling back and forth as he walked, was the golden Millennium Rod.  
  
What sorts of trouble would that item cause for him, as he didn't doubt that it would.  
  
Above him, Priest Seto looked down at his reincarnate for a moment before looking back up at the sky.  
  
"The first step has been taken," he thought to himself, smiling.  
  
They now had the rod in their possession, and Yami Taerro was nearby. Soon, they would be able to seal away the evil once again, and rid themselves of his terror.  
  
If.  
  
If they could do it in time.  
  
  
  
************  
  
  
  
Yugi padded home, his Egyptian outfit looking slightly dusty and his face streaked with dirt due to all the sand and the sandstorm, but he was smiling, proud. He AND Yami, along with the others, had managed to once again foil Anubis's plot.  
  
Although Yami was still not quite sure what his aibou had meant by giving Seto Kaiba the Millennium Rod, he too, was satisfied.  
  
"Well Yami," Yugi said, his voice piercing the dark silence of the night suddenly. "One thing's for sure."  
  
Yami raised an eyebrow, curiously.  
  
"Oh? What's that?" he inquired.  
  
Yugi smiled.  
  
"This was one Halloween I'll NEVER forget," he relpied.  
  
Yami grinned.  
  
"That is quite true, Yugi," he replied, looking up at the full, white moon that was glowing overhead. "Quite true."  
  
***********  
  
  
  
End of Story!  
  
So what did you all think? ^_^ Leave us a review and let us know.  
  
"And afterwards, you might want to check out our next story in the series which is going to be titled, "A Pearl By Any Other Name" and will be up today or tomorrow."  
  
Thanks for reading! ^_^ 


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